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THE 



Elements of Pedagogy 



A Manual for Teachers, Normal Schools, Normal Institutes 
Teachers' Reading Circles, and all Persons 
Interested in School Education 



EMERSON E. WHITE, A.M., LL.D. 

iulkor of White's Series of Arithmetics, Oral Lessons in Number, School Registers Etc, 




NEW- YORK 



CIXCINNATI 



CHICAGO 



AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY 



W-i 






WHITE'S ARITHMETICS. 




First Book of Arithmetic $o 


30 


New Elementary Arithmetic, 


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(Short course.) 




New Elementary Arithmetic 


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New Complete Arithmetic 


65 


Oral Lessons in Number 


60 


Primary Arithmetic (old' 


22 


Intermediate Arithmetic (old), 


35 


Complete Arithmetic (old; 


65 


WHITE'S SCHOOL RECORDS. 




New School Register, 


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New Common School Register and Term 




Record, 


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Teachers' Class Record 


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Pupil's Daily Record, per dozen, .... 


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COPYRIGHT 

1886 

BY VAN ANTWERP, BRAGG & CO. 

WHITE'S EUE. OF PED. 



printcb at 
JTbc lEclcctic Ipccse 
Cincinnati, W. S. £L 

Qm from 
Mrs. Etta F. Winter 
Sept. 20 1932 



PREFACE. 



This treatise has its origin in a belief that the time has come 
for such a study of school education as will ascertain the limita- 
tions of its maxims and the coordination and harmonizing of 
its apparently conflicting methods. It embodies the results of 
an earnest effort to reach these ends by the sure path and in 
the clear light of psychology and practical experience. 

The treatise presents : 

1. An analysis of psychical processes, and especially those 
involved in knowing. 

2. A statement of the order in which the several powers of 
the mind become active, and their relative activity and devel- 
opment at successive school periods, with a graphic illustration 
of the same. 

3. A presentation of the fundamental principles of teaching, 
carefully deduced from psychical facts, and tested by the best 
school experience known to the writer. 

4. The practical embodiment and illustration of these prin- 
ciples in general methods of teaching. 

5. The application of these methods to the teaching of read- 
ing, language, geography, and arithmetic, — the branches which 
most fully represent elementary education. 

6. The statement and application of psychical facts to moral 
training. 

The methods of teaching presented embody the results of 
the author's somewhat wide observation, and it is believed that 
they fairly represent the best teaching in American schools. 
They might have been given without a prior statement of their 
underlying principles, and these might have been presented 

(iii) 



IV PREFACE. 

without special reference to the psychical facts on which they 
are based. There is, however, very great advantage in study- 
ing these several subjects in the order of their logical depend- 
ence ; and it is hoped that this will not be found difficult in 
this treatise, since an effort has been made so to present 
psychical processes that they can be understood by any one who 
is competent to teach English grammar. A fuller illustration of 
these facts of mind would have taken space required for the 
proper treatment of other subjects. 

It is, however, suggested that the reader who has little interest 
in psychical knowledge, can begin with the principles of teach- 
ing (page 97), and, after mastering these and the methods which 
embody them, he may peruse with profit the pages devoted to 
the elements of psychology. Experience uniformly shows that 
a knowledge of methods of teaching can be successfully applied 
only in the clear light of the principles which they embody, 
and hence the essential thing for the teacher is to obtain a clear 
knowledge of the guiding principles of his art. 

This treatise is submitted to American teachers with the hope 
that it may give many of the more thoughtful a clearer knowl- 
edge of their great art and more satisfactory success in its 
practice. 

Cincinnati, O., 
July 28, 1886. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

Introduction 9 



Elements of Psychology. 

The Human Soul 21 

Outline Analysis . 22 

The Sensibility 23 

Corporeal Feelings 24 

Psychical Feelings 26 

Voluntary Feelings 30 

Connection of Soul and Body 31 

Outline Analysis of the Feelings .... 34 

The Intellect 35 

The Presentative Power 36 

Consciousness 36 

Sense-Perception 38 

Intuition 44 

Presentative Products 45 

Man's Condition with only Presentative Power 47 

The Representative Power. ..... 48 

Simple Representation. . , . . . 51 

Memory ........ 51 

Imagination 55 

Phantasy 58 

(v) 



VI 



CONTENTS. 



Man's Psychical Condition 
The Thought Power 
Conception . 
Judgment 
The Reason . 
Induction 
Deduction 
Scientific Thought 
Outhne Analysis of Mental Processes 
Activity and Growth of Mental Powers 
Diagram showing Activity of Mental Powers 



Principles of Teaching. 



Ends and Means 
Principle I . 

Principle II ... 

Principle III . . . 
Principle IV (with diagram) 
Principle V . . . 

Principle VI . . . 
Principle VII 



Methods of Teaching. 



Preliminary Definitions 
General Methods of Teaching 
Distinct Teaching Processes 

Instruction . 

Drill .... 

Testing 



CONTENTS. 



Vll 



The Study of Books . 

Oral Teaching and Book Study 

Their Union in Primary Classes 
Union in Intermediate Classes 
in High-School Classes 
of Teaching Exercises 
; Lesson 

•^"^ ^ The Recitation 



in-Lessonr 



/f-'^*^ 



V 



V. 



Objects or Aims . 
Methods of Testing 

The Question Method . 

The Topic Method 
Methods of Calling on Pupils 

The Consecutive Method 
, The Promiscuous Method 

The Simultaneous Method 
Written Examinations 
The Teacher's Preparation 



149 

152 

154 
. . 156 

161 
. ^. _ 164 

*.^^ , 168 
I? ■ / ''' ^ 



• . 185 



■V 



Ij^i 



**v 



H^ 



c/v 



i«9 

193 

210 






Methojds of Teaching Special Branches. 



:2?\ 



Reading 219 

First Steps in Reading 221 

Reading Drills in Second Reader .... 230 

Reading Drills in Advanced Classes .... 237 

Language 243 

Language Lessons 243 

Primary Series ....... 245 

Secondai'y Series ....... 249 

Original Series . , 21:2 



VI 11 CONTENTS. 










PAGE 


English Grammar 255 


Introductory Lessons . 








256 


Synthesis of Simple Sentence 








259 


Analysis and Parsing . 








265 


Geography 








268 


Oral Course in Home Geography 








270 


Syllabus of Oral Lessons 








271 


Intermediate or Book Course 








283 


Course in Physical Geography 








293 


Arithmetic ...... 








294 


The Primary Course 








294 


The Elementary Book Course 








304 


The Completing Course 








309 



IVIoRAL Training. 



The Will 

The Training of the Will . 

School Incentives 

The Religious Motives 

Religious Sanctions in Moral Training 

Religion in the Public School 



313 
318 
320 

323 
327 
328 



THE 



ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 



INTRODUCTION. 

Education as an art is based primarily on the nat- 
ure of the being educated. This fact is illustrated 
not only in the education of different classes Education 
of human beings, as infants and adults, the ®^ ^" ''^'■*- 
blind, the deaf, and the feeble-minded, but also in the 
training of different brute animals, as the horse, the 
dog, and the monkey. In the education or training of 
these and other diverse classes, the means employed 
obviously vary as the nature of the being varies. 

It follows that the determining of the methods to 
be employed in the education of any class of human 
beings involves a knowledge of their educable nature; 
and hence the determining of methods and courses 
of school education involves a knowledge of the edu- 
cable nature of children and youth. 

How is this guiding knowledge to be obtained? It 
is believed that this knowledge is best reached by a 
careful analysis and study of psychical proc- Guiding 
esses as revealed in consciousness, and then Knowledge, 
determining the relations of these processes to each 
other, and the comparative activity and energy of 
the corresponding powers in the successive periods 

(9) 



lO ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

of school life by a wide comparison of children of 
different ages and conditions. This order is a neces- 
sary one, since the psychical nature of children can 
not be known primarily by a study of their outer ac- 
tivities, and for the reason that such activities can 
only be interpreted in the light of psychical knowl- 
edge, and this can be obtained only by knowing one's 
self in consciousness. The Delphic precept, "Know 
thyself," is not only the door to philosophy, but to 
all knowledge of human action and experience. The 
necessary basis of child psychology is general psy- 
chology. * 

What is primarily needed for practical guidance in 
teaching is a clear knowledge of the psychical proc- 
Psychicai esses involved in learning, and hence the 
Processes, author has aimed to present this essential 
knowledge as clearly as possible. To this end, the 
processes involved in feeling, knowing, and willing 
have been carefully analyzed, and their conditions and 
mutual relations considered, and in all this the leading 
purpose has been to ascertain and present those facts 
of mind which most directly relate to the art of educa- 
tion. There has been no attempt to present exhaust- 
ively the facts of psychology, much less to give the 
philosophy of these facts, and for the reason that such 
knowledge would be of little, if any, assistance to 
the great body of teachers, whose first need is to see 



*"T!ie mental phenomena of children, as well as of adults, of 
savages as well as cultured people, can never be perceived as ex- 
ternal phenomena, but only in one's self, and inferred to exist in 
others as concomitant to certain external movements or changes 
which arc perceived to exist externally." 

— W. T. Harris, in ^^Psychological Inqni)yy 



iNTR on UC TIO y. I I 

clearly the foundations of their art. It is feared that 
even the more thoughtful teachers are confused, rather 
than helped, by the mass of subtle facts and specula- 
tions, which are sometimes given under the name of 
psychology; and the author confesses his inability to 
see the practical bearing of much of the so-called phi- 
losophy now so often presented as the basis of educa- 
tional methods. 

Besides, whatever may be true of the value of phi- 
losophy as a practical guide in education, the only 
door to it is a clear knowledge of the facts study of 
-cvJiich it seeks to explain. It is believed that Psychology, 
the non-observance of this obvious principle will ex- 
plain largely the unsatisfactory results of the study of 
psychology in some of our higher institutions. Stu- 
dents, who have no adequate knowledge of primary 
mental processes, are confronted with abstruse the- 
ories and speculations to account for them, with crit- 
icisms on the same, and even with a history of phi- 
losophic inquiry on the subject! As a consequence, 
the student is confused and bewildered. What a 
change would appear if all students of psychology 
were first to spend a few months in a proper study 
of the elementary facts of the science, including the 
physiological conditions of psychical action ! 

It has not been possible to designate psychical phe- 
nomena by terms universally thus applied, and for the 
reason that there is no universal usage in Terms 
the nomenclature of psychical science — a Used, 
few terms excepted. The terms "know" and "knowl- 
edge," "think," and "thought," and many other 
terms of like importance are employed by different 



12 THE ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

writers to denote different processes and products ; 
and there is a similar diversity and confusion in the 
use of educational terms. The most that can be de- 
manded of an author is that he employ terms in 
senses supported by good, if not the best, usage, and 
that his use of these terms be uniformly consistent. 
It is hoped that the use of terms in this treatise fully 
meets this requirement. The question of language has 
not, however, been permitted to obscure the fact that, 
for our present purpose, the essential thing is to ascer- 
tain the actual processes involved in psychical activity, 
and then so clearly to designate them that there may 
be neither confusion nor misunderstanding in their ap- 
plication in principles and methods of teaching. The 
reader is urged to ascertain the sense in which tech- 
nical terms are used, and then to keep this knowledge 
in mind when stud}'ing principles and methods. 

The purpose for which an analysis of psychical phe- 
nomena has been introduced into this treatise, has 
Physiological neither called for nor justified a full pre- 
Knowiedge. scutation of thosc facts of physiology wdiich 
are related to the facts of mind. Any attempt to pre- 
sent the physiology of the nervous organism would 
have required many pages, and, besides, it would 
have involved physiological questions, which future re- 
searches can alone settle. The most that has seemed 
necessary in this direction, is a concise statement of 
the physiological conditions involved in psychical ac- 
tivity, especially in sensation, and a clear recognition 
of the marvelous interdependence and interaction of 
mind and body in psychical phenomena. Nor is this 
limitation any disparagement of the value of physio- 



INTR on UC TION. 1 3 

logical knowledge in education. It is fully conceded 
that the bodily conditions of mental action must be 
clearly recognized in all educational methods, and 
especially when the being educated is the growing 
child. The period of adolescence presents educational 
problems which can only be solved in the light of 
physiology. 

But this does not change the fact that a primary 
knowledge of psychical processes can only be gained 
through consciousness. The researches of Researches of 
physiologists have not yet thrown a ray Physiologists, 
of light on the nature of mind, or on the manner in 
Vv'hich sensorial action occasions mental activity, or on 
the manner in which mental action produces sensorial 
changes. The interactions of soul and body in psy- 
chical phenomena seem as unsolvable as that other 
mystery called life. What is clearly known is that 
the phenomena of the soul, as revealed in the certain 
light of consciousness, are totally unlike the discov- 
ered activities of the sensorial organism. The last 
possible discovery of physiology can only give the last 
physical condition of psychical action. 

The most important psychical question involved in 
determining the principles and methods of teaching, is 
the relative activity and development of study of 
the several intellectual powers in the sue- children, 
cessive periods of child life— a question which, as be- 
fore stated, can only be settled by a wide comparison 
of the activities of children of different ages and condi- 
tions. The practical difficulty in making such a com- 
parison is the probability that all necessary facts are 
not yet known, and, at first thought, it would seem 



14 EL EM EX TS OF FED A GOGY. 

wise to defer any attempt at such comparison until a 
wider study of children has been made. The objec- 
tion to such delay is the important fact that the great 
work of education can not be arrested while this 
needed investigation is made. The present genera- 
tion of youth must be trained, if trained at all, in 
the light of what is noiv known of child nature and 
activity, and hence it becomes necessary to take a 
general survey of the facts known in order to throw 
the clearest possible light on the present work of the 
schools. 

Moreover, while the information now accessible is 
not in some respects satisfactory, it is believed that 
General cuough IS kuowu to render it both safe 
Survey. j^,-,(j wisc to draw a io-v^ conclusions for the 
guidance of elementary teachers, and especially when 
the known facts are interpreted in the light of per- 
sonal observation and experience. The safety of such 
a general survey is increased by the fact that the 
conclusions reached are used in pedagogy as modify- 
ing, and not as basal elements. The essential facts 
of mind are revealed in consciousness, and are pre- 
sented in general psychology, and what is sought in 
the study of children is to ascertain what viodifica- 
tions of these facts are effected by the varying condi- 
tions of child life. 

It has seemed best to deduce from the facts of 
psychology, and formally state, only the more funda- 
principiesof mental principles of teaching, and to pre- 
Teaching. ^qx\\. Subordinate principles in connection 
with the methods which embody them. The learner 
of an art can intelligently apply only a few princi- 



IX TR OD UCTION. 1 5 

pies, and these at first should be fundamental. This 
is specially true in teaching, the most complex and 
difficult of arts. 

It is believed that the seven principles of teaching 
formally stated and explained in this treatise, are both 
fundamental and comprehensive. They run centrally 
through the art of teaching, and are widely applica- 
ble, especially in elementary schools. They are not 
presented as coordinate, since the first really includes 
the others, and no attempt has been made to present 
them in a strictly logical order, the first three ex- 
cepted. There is a logical sequence, but less obvi- 
ous, in the last four principles. 

Great care has been taken to point out limitations 
when such exist, and this has seemed all the more im- 
portant since such limitations are so often Limitations 
ignored. One of the most misleading er- of Maxims, 
rors in present pedagogic discussion is the sweeping 
assumption that maxims, which have a limited applica- 
tion, are universal principles of teaching. The point- 
ing out of these limitations may, in some instances, 
seem to sacrifice strength of statement, but the truth 
is better for guidance than a doubtful epigram. 

In presenting methods of teaching, great care has 
been taken to adapt the same to the actual work of 
the schools, and to make the character- General 
istic features obvious by simple illustra- Methods, 
tions. Special attention has been given to the proper 
coordination of related methods, and the practical 
union of those that are complementary, as is true of 
analytic and synthetic methods, oral teaching and 
book study, the lesson and the recitation, etc. It is 



l6 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

believed that no portion of the book will be more 
helpful to the great body of teachers than that which 
presents the practical union of oral teaching and book 
study as complementary means of school training. 
The elementary teaching in American schools has, in 
many instances, swung from almost exclusive book 
study and drill to as exclusive oral teaching, and the 
results of each extreme practice have been far from 
satisfactory. An earnest attempt has been made to 
show how these two means or methods of school 
training may be united in the successive grades, thus 
practically solving one of the most important teach- 
ing problems that now confront the educators of the 
country. 

An effort has also been made to present the func- 
tions and limits, respectively, of instruction, drilling, 
Lessons and ^ud testing, iu a Complete method of school 
Recitations, training. It is believed that the division 
of school exercises into lessons and recitations, and 
the careful treatment of each, especially the latter, 
will be welcomed by all teachers who have noted the 
increasing absence of study in the elementary schools, 
even in the upper grades. In too many schools the 
art of testing is becoming one of the lost arts, and 
under the influence of overteaching, the pupils, in too 
many instances, are reaching the high school without 
the power or the habit of self- effort and study. The 
recitation with its searching tests has an important 
place in all grades of school, especially in those above 
the lower or primary. 

In presenting methods of teaching particular branch- 
es, those branches have been selected that best repre- 



IN TR OD UC TION. I / 

sent the several departments of elementary knowledge 
included in a school course. These are special 
reading, language, arithmetic, and geog- Methods, 
raphy. The methods of teaching these branches are 
presented sufficiently in detail for the guidance of in- 
telligent teachers, and no others will obtain much help 
from a treatise on teaching. It would be easy to fill a 
large volume with detailed methods of teaching these 
branches, but the mere copying of such methods, 
without seeing clearly the principles involved, would 
be of questionable advantage. A method is at best 
but an orderly procedure. What its results will be 
depends on what the teacher puts into it ; and a 
teacher can never put into a method what he does 
not himself possess. It is true that there is great 
advantage in the intelligent study of good methods, 
but the highest success in teaching is only attained 
by the teacher's making the methods which he uses. 
Ids own. They must embody his ideals, and be 
adapted to his individual power. 

In the discussion of the subject of moral training, 
a central position has been given to the right training 
of the will, so little discussed or under- Moral 
stood, and it is hoped that new light has Training, 
been thrown, not only on the question of moral incen- 
tives, but also on the place of religion in school edu- 
cation. The necessity of using religious motives in 
the effective training of the will suggests a practica- 
ble mean position between the two extreme views 
now in conflict, — the one demanding the exclusion of 
all ideas of God and religion from the public school, 
and the other insisting that formal religious instruc- 

W. p.— 2. 



1 8 EL EM EN TS OF FED A GOGY. 

tion be made the basis of all moral training. From 
the stand -point of will training, it is seen that what 
is imperatively demanded is not formal or technical 
religious instruction in school, so much as the quick- 
ening of the conscience and the influencing of the 
will by the wise use of religious motives and sanc- 
tions. 



ELEMENTS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 



CiQ) 



ELEMENTS OF PSYCHOLOGY. 



THE HUMAN SOUL. 

Psychology is the science of the human soul. It 
treats of the attributes and phenomena of the soul as 
manifested in its connection with the body in the 
present life. 

The human soul is capable of three distinct classes 
of activities, called feeling, kuoiving, and zvilling. The 
affirmations, I feel, I know, I will, express actions 
which are universally recognized as distinct in kind. 

The capability of the soul to put forth a definite 
action, or to act in a definite way, is called Psychical 
power.^ The power of the soul to feel is Powers, 
called the Sensibility ; its power to know, the Intellect ; 
and its power to will, the Will. 

This reference of the three distinct activities of the 
soul to three powers, called sensibility, intellect, and 
will, does not imply that the soul is com- The soui 
posed of parts or organs. It is the soul, * ^""^• 
not a part of it, that feels, that knows, that wills. 



*This ability or capacity of the soul is also czWqA facully, but 

this term suggests too strongly that the soul is composed or made 

up of separate capacities or faculties. The use of the term power is 

not entirely free from this objection. 

(21) 



22 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

The sensibility might be defined as the soul possess- 
ing or exercising the power of feeling; the intellect, as 
the soul possessing or exercising the power of know- 
ing ; and the will, as the soul possessing or exercising 
the power of willing. The human soul is a unity in 
essence with a trinity of powers and activities. 

It is also to be specially noted that the powers of 
the soul to feel, to know, and to will are distinct, but 
Powers Inter- ^lot indcpcndcut. Thc actiou of the soul in 
dependent, feeling dcpcnds more or less on its action 
in knowing and willing ; its action in knowing depends 
on its action in feeling and willing ; and its action in 
w^illing depends on its action in feeling and knowing. 
In other words, the power of the soul to put forth 
any given activity depends more or less on its power 
to put forth other distinct but related activities. In 
the soul's conscious experience the activities of feeling, 
knowing, and willing are marvclously blended in many 
complex acts and states ; and there is a like marvel- 
ous connection and interdependence of the activities 
of the soul and the body (p. 31). 

The terms soul and mind are often used as synony- 

inteiiect mous, but the best usage increasingly ap- 

caiiedMind. pUgg ^j^g ^-gj-j^ mind to the intellect or 

knowing power of the soul, or, more accurately, to 

the soul exercising the power of knowing. 

Outline Analysis. 

"Pl^g f I. Sensibility — the power to feel. 

llunian \ 2. Intellect — the power to know. 

Soul. [ 3. The Will— thc power to will. 



THE SENSIBILITY. 23 



THE SENSIBILITY. 

All feelings are actions or states of the soul, and 
hence are psychical. The feelings may, however, be 
properly classified as Corporeal and Psychical, classes 01 
the former having their origin in the bodily Feeimgs. 
organism, and the latter originating more exclusively 
in the soul. 

The bodily organism in which the corporeal feelings 
have their origin, consists of the nervous system proper, 
including the brain, spinal marrow, ganglia. Nervous 
and nerves, and the special nerves of the System, 
organs of touch, sight, hearing, taste, and smell. The 
brain is the central organ of the nervous system ; the 
spinal marrow connects the brain with the nervous sys- 
tem below the head ; and the ganglia are subordinate 
nervous centers. The nerves ramify through all parts 
of the body, the hair and parts of the nails and bones 
excepted, and terminate in the skin, internal surfaces, 
muscles, and the special organs of sense. Their gen- 
eral function is to receive and convey impressions or 
excitations from the peripheral parts to the nervous 
centers, and to carry motor excitations from the nerv- 
ous centers to the peripheral parts. The nerve fila- 
ments that carry excitations to the nervous centers 
are called afferent nerves, and those that carry excita- 
tions y9-c;;/ the nervous centers are called efferent nerves. 

The organs of sight, hearing, taste, and smell are 
located in the head, in close connection with the brain. 
The nerves of touch are in the skin (outer and inner) 
and are distributed unevenly, the tip of the tongue, 



24 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

the lips, and the ends of the fingers having many 
nerves, and being the most sensitive parts of the body. 

The nervous system is not only the organism of 
all corporeal activities, including those which occasion 
Organ of tlic corporcal feelings, but it is the bodily 
the Soul. organism on which the soul directly acts 
in psychical feeling and in intellectual and volitional 
activity. The brain is eminently the corporeal organ 
of the mind.''^ 

Corporeal Feelings. 

The corporcal feelings include Sensations, Appetites, 
and Listincts. 

Sensations are feelings occasioned by some excite- 
ment of the nervous organism. They include general 
and special sensations. The general sensa- 

Sensations. _ 

tions include ( i ) organie sensations, those 
connected with the nutritive, circulatory, respiratory, 
and other bodily organs, and ( 2 ) vital sensations, 
those of rest and fatigue, vigor and languor, health 
and sickness, temperature, etc. The special sensa- 
tions include those of touch, sight, hearing, taste, 
smell, and certain muscular sensations. So much of 
the nervous system as is involved in sensation is 
called the sensory organism, or the sensorimn. 

Special sensations, and some general sensations, are 
Sensations locatcd by the mind in the part of the 
Localized. scnsoHum cxcitcd or affected. When, for 



*See Carpenter's Hiitnan Physiology ; Carpenter's Mental P/iysi- 
ology ; Lewes's Physical Basis of Mind; and E. C. Seguin on the 
Neii'oits System (Johnson's "New Universal Cyclopccdia.") 



THE SENSIBILITY. 2% 

example, a cold substance, as ice, is touched with 
the finger, the resulting sensation has its locus in the 
finger, and, at the same time, is in the soul.* The 
sensorial excitement is in the nerves of the finsrer. 
and is corporeal or physical ; the resulting sensation 
is in the soul, and is purely psychical. The soul not 
only experiences the sensation, but it perceives or is 
conscious of it. It is not conscious of nerves or 
nerve action, of the sensorium excited to action or 
sensorial action, but // is conscious of the sensation. 
The soul is only conscious of psychical phenomena, 
and the first psychical experience of which it is con- 
scious is a sensation. 

The Appetites are feelings occasioned by the vital 
wants of the body. The principal appetites are hun- 
ger, thirst, sleep, exercise, and the appe- 
tite of sex — the first four being related to 
the preservation of the individual, and the last to the 
continuation of the species. 

The appetites not only have their origin in the 
body, but they act under bodily conditions. An ap- 
petite may be indulged to excess, and Habits of 
such excessive indulgence results in injury. Appetite. 
Appetites for special objects may be acquired, as those 
for tobacco, opium, alcohol, etc., and these acquired 
appetites may, in some cases, be. transmitted to off- 
spring, and thus become hereditary. The most fear- 



«It is not important to raise here the old question respecting 

the locus of the soul. It is sufficient to know that sensorial action 

affects the soul, and that the resulting sensation is located in the 

part of the sensorium excited. It is possible that the soul may 

pervade and animate the entire sensorium. 
W. P.-3. 



26 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

ful habits to which man is subject have their origin 
in an abuse of appetite. 

The Instincts are those impulses which attend sen- 
sations and appetites, and, in the absence of direct- 
ing inteUigence, prompt and direct appro- 
instincts. ^ ? ' ^ . . , , , 

priate action. Instmct impels and directs 

these bhnd feehngs to their appropriate ends. The 
nursing of the babe, its cry for food, the scream that 
attends sudden fright, the dodging of a blow, the quick 
glance at any sudden or strange appearing, the shrink- 
ing from a pinch or prick, and the shielding of the 
eye from too intense light, are examples of actions 
prompted by human instinct. Instinctive actions are 
automatic, although they may seem to be rational 
and voluntary. It is sometimes very difficult to de- 
termine whether a given act is instinctive, or rational 
and voluntary. 

Psychical Feelings. 

The Psychical Feelings have their origin or genesis 
in the soul, and are further characterized by the fact 
that they are never located by the mind in any part 
of the bodily organism. The psychical feelings in- 
clude the Evtotions, the Affections, and the Desires. 

The Emotions are those pure feelings which are 

awakened or incited by the presence of some thought, 

concept, or idea in the mind, as the emo- 

Emotions. _ ^ ^ 

tions of joy, sorrow, pleasure, grief, fear, 
shame, etc. Their psychical origin is shown by the 
fact that there can be no emotion in the absence of 
knowledge adapted to awaken it, and by the further 
fact that, in the same bodily condition, unlike inciting 



THE SENSIBILITY. 2/ 

knowledge awakens unlike emotions, one intelligence 
causing ecstatic joy, and another the deepest grief. 
As an illustration of the second fact, suppose a person 
in a certain bodily condition be handed the telegram, 
"Your father is heir to a great fortune," and then sup- 
pose that the same person, in the same bodily condi- 
tion, be handed the telegram, "Your father is dead." 
It is certain that the resulting emotion in each case 
would be determined by the intelligence, and not by 
the bodily condition. There is nothing in science or 
experience to sustain the assumption that the emo- 
tion is occasioned by some sensorial effect produced 
through the senses. There is nothing in the physical 
words, as forms or sounds, that can cause sensorial 
impressions so unlike as the emotions awakened.* 

It is true that the intensity or degree of an emotion 
may depend on bodily conditions, and especially on 
the condition of the vital organs. Intelli- intensity of 
gence that would awaken the intensest Emotions, 
emotion in one bodily condition, may occasion only a 
moderate emotion in another. It is also true that an 
emotion may occasion a sensation, and, by repetition, 
the two activities or states may be so closely asso- 



*This fact is strikingly illustrated by an occurrence at a county 
teachers' institute in Indiana. A leading and much-thieved teacher 
in the county was detained at home by serious illness. At one of 
the sessions the county superintendent read a telegram as follows: 
" Clarence is no more." It produced general and deep sorrow 
among the members, and arrangements for attending the funeral 
were made. The next day a teacher from the neighborhood en- 
tered the institute, and, on being asked when the funeral would 
take place, replied that Clarence was not dead, but was improving. 
The surprised but happy superintendent looked up the telegram and 
found that it read, "Clarence is no worse." 



28 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

ciated that the presence of either will be accompanied 
by the other, A sensation may thus revive an emo- 
tion, but this fact does not show that the revived 
emotion had primarily a sensorial origin. 

The nature of an emotion is determined by the nat- 
ure of the knowledge or intellectual act or state that 
Nature and awakens it. An apprehension of novelty, 

Classes. -^^.jj-^ liumor, bcauty, grandeur, sublimity, 
etc., occasions the corresponding esthetic emotions. 
The ideas of right, duty, responsibility, obligation, 
etc., with reference to man, awaken the corresponding 
ethical feelings. The contemplation of God's good- 
ness, holiness, justice, love, mercy, and grace awakens 
the religious emotions of hope, fear, humility, grati- 
tude, thankfulness, etc. 

The Affections are feelings directed towards living 

or existent beings, institutions, and other appropriate 

objects, as the love of God, kindred, 

Affections. . -- . 

friends, home, country, etc. An affection 
is characterized by an impulse or movement of the 
soul towards an external object. It is attended by a 
pleasurable or a painful emotion. 

The affections may be classified as benevolent and 
malevolent. 

The benevolent affections seek the well-being or 
good of their object. They include love, friendship, 
esteem, sympathy, compassion, pity, mercy, grati- 
tude, piety, philanthropy, patriotism, etc. 

The malevolent affections tend to injure or do evil 
to their object. They include dislike, antipathy, con- 
tempt, scorn, disdain, envy, jealousy, malice, hatred, 
anger, revenge, resentment, etc. 



THE SENSIBILITY. 2g 

The Desires are the cravings of the soul for some 
real or supposed good not possessed, as a 
desire for knowledge, influence, station, 
power, popularity, superiority, success, friends, a 
house, a painting, a library, etc. 

The desires involve opposite feelings called aver- 
sions. The desire for wealth involves an aversion to 
poverty ; a desire for happiness, an aversion to misery, 
etc. 

The distinction between an affection and a desire is 
clear. In an affection, the soul goes out to an object 
to affect it ; in a desire the soul craves an object to 
affect itself The end of an affection is objective and 
unselfish ; the end of a desire is subjective. 

When the impulsive tendency of a desire becomes 
so strong as to incline the soul to the object desired, 
the desire is called an inclination, and when other 
an inclination becomes habitual, it is called Terms, 
a propensity or disposition. A desire or affection or 
appetite energized and made intense by the presence 
of its object, is called a passion. 

It is seen from the foregoing analysis of the feel- 
ings, that sensations and emotions are more or less 
passive, and that the appetites, instincts, 

^ » r-r- ' > Motives. 

affections, and desires are active and im- 
pulsive. It will be shown hereafter that these im- 
pulsive feelings, especially the affections and desires, 
are incentives or motives (p. 320). 

It is also seen from the foregoing analysis that the 
different classes of feelings are closely re- Feelings 
lated. Sensations pass over into appetites, Related, 
and both sensations and appetites awaken related 



30 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

affections and desires. Every emotion is attended by 
a desire, and the affections are usually attended by 
emotions, and pass over into desires. The movement 
of the feelings is, as a general rule, towards desire. 
In the soul's conscious experience the different feelings 
are blended in many complex states, and this is true 
of all psychical activities. It will be subsequently 
shown (p. 39) that the sensations are the genesis of 
intellectual activity and life. 

Voluntary Feelings. 

The above analysis of the phenomena of the sensi- 
bility has been confined to the natural or sponta- 
neous feelings, with little reference to the voluntary 
feelings, which will hereafter be considered in con- 
nection with the phenomena of the will as a basis of 
moral education (p. 313). What has been attempted 
is to make such an analysis of the feelings as will 
throw needed light on the processes of the mind in 
knowing. It must suffice, in this connection, to rec- 
ognize the fact that the soul, in the exercise of its 
will power, is largely the controller of its feelings, as 
well as the director of its conscious intellectual ac- 
tivities. The soul may energize a desire *by a con- 
curring purpose, or it may supplant it by giving at- 
tention to objects adapted to awaken a different or 
contrary desire. By an act of will any impulsive 
feeling may be resisted, and another summoned as a 
motive to action. Whether a desire shall pass over 
into a purpose, or out into a deed, is under the de- 
cision of the will — the controlling and executive power 
of the soul. 



THE SENSIBILITY. 3 1 

Attention may also be called to the fact that the 
capacity or power of the soul for any emotion, affec- 
tion, or desire may be increased by its culture of 
repeated exercise. It is a law that every Feelings, 
act of the soul leaves as a necessary result an in- 
creased power to act in like manner, and a tendency 
to act again. Power and tendency are the necessary 
resultants of all psychical action. In harmony with 
this law, the psychical feelings may all be cultivated 
by appropriate exercise. It is possible by the non- 
exercise of certain feelings, and the constant exercise 
of oth'ers, to create in man, in a certain sense, a new 
nature — to substitute for passions and lusts that de- 
grade the soul, those affections and desires that exalt 
and make beautiful the life. Even an acquired ap- 
petite may be supplanted by associating with the 
thought of it feelings sufficiently unpleasant and re- 
pulsive to banish it from the soul. But this subjec- 
tion of the lower nature to the higher involves the 
agency of the will — the energizing and quickening of 
right feelings by a controlling purpose, and hence the 
education of the feelings is best treated in connection 
with the training of the will. 

Connection of Soul and Body. 

The phenomena of the sensibility show a close con> 
nection of the soul and the body. This connection is 
illustrated by the following facts : 

I. The feelings affect the vital functions of the body, 
and in turn are affected by bodily condi- Mutually 
tions. A sudden fright or an intense out- Affected, 
burst of passion may paralyze the heart or the brain; 



3 2 ELEMENTS OF FED A GOGY. 

intense fear or grief may cause the hair to turn white ; 
a heavy sorrow may impair digestion, enfeeble the 
action of all the vital organs, and hasten the progress 
of disease. On the other hand, joy, hope, and kin- 
dred feelings promote the health, activity, and vigor 
of all the bodily powers. "A merry heart doth good 
like a medicine." 

2. The feelings have a bodily manifestation. Most 
of the emotions and affections are expressed by look. 
Bodily Mani- voice. Or gcsture. Love, hatred, anger, 

festation. pity, cnvy, etc., are mirrored in the face. 
The more permanent states of feeling are manifested 
in features and in habitual postures and movements 
of the body. A few physiologists have gone so far 
as to deny the possibility of the existence of an emo- 
tion or affection apart from its bodily expression. 
Whatever may be true as to their necessary co-exist- 
ence, it is to be noted that the physical expression 
of a feeling is the effect and not the cause. There is 
certainly no evidence that the feeling and its bodily 
expression are identical. The former is psychical ; the 
latter physical. 

3. The prevailing feelings not only determine the 
features and expression of the face, but mental ac- 

Size of tivity, especially in childhood and youth, 
the Brain, affects the growth of the brain, the special 
organ of the mind. The fact that proper exercise 
develops the muscles and other tissues of the body, 
indicates that mental activity, involving brain action, 
must necessarily affect the growth of the brain, and, 
this being true, the resulting tendency would be often,' 
if not generally, transmitted from parent to child. As 



THE SENSIBILITY. 33 

a consequence, the more intellectual races should, 
other things being equal, have more than the average 
size of brain. Careful investigations have shown that 
there is this general correspondence between mental 
power and the size of the brain, though the excep- 
tions are so numerous that no safe deductions can be 
based on brain measurements. There is nothing in 
the correspondence that shows that the size of the 
brain determines or causes the mental power, but the 
facts and the analogies alike indicate that the varia- 
tion in the size of the brain is the effect of mental 
activity of the individual or of his ancestors or of 
both. The mental derangements that follow injuries 
and diseases of the brain show the dependence of 
the mind on the nervous organism for its activity. 
The soul acts and manifests itself through the agency 
of the body, and when the body fails to perform its 
normal function, there is, as a consequence, mental 
feebleness or aberration. Insanity and delirium are 
generally, if not universally, due to bodily derange- 
ment. 

There is necessarily a general harmony between the 
soul and the body. They not only develop together, 
though not always in the same ratio, but General 
their activity and energy generally vary Harmony, 
with each other. When the vital energies of the body 
are lowered by drowsiness, languor, and disease, the 
psychical activities are depressed. When the soul is 
energized by strong and buoyant emotions and de- 
sires, the bodily powers respond to the quickening 
influence. 



34 



ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 



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THE INTELLECT. 35 



THE INTELLECT. 



The Intellect is tJic poivcr of the soul tJiat kiioivs; or, 
more accurately, the soul possessing or exercising the 
power of knoiving. 

To know an object is to be certain that it is, and 
hence knowing: niay be defined as the per- ,^ , ^ 

o J i. Knowledge. 

ceiving of the certain existence of an ob- 
ject. The result or product of an act of knowing is 
knowledge. 

No definition can impart an original idea of the 
mental act called knowing. This idea can alone be 
gained by a conscious experience of the act. The 
above definition may, however, be verified by refer- 
ence to such conscious experience. Knowing and 
knowledge are here used as generic terms, and, as 
such, include all intellectual acts and products char- 
acterized by certainty. 

Objects of knowledge include (i) the acts and 
states of the soul and their products, called subject- 
objects ; (2) external material objects, called objects of 
object-objects; and (3) the relations of ob- Knowledge. 
jects, whether discerned intuitively or by thought, 
called relation-objects. 

Every object of knowledge must be real, since being 
involves reality, material or non- material. An object 
that has no real existence can not be known. A 
psychical object is as real as a material object. The 
knowing of an object also involves the knowing of 
its necessary relations, and these are as real as the 
object itself. 



36 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 



The Presentative Power. 

The soul is endowed with the power to know di- 
rectly and immediately present objects of knowledge. 
This is called the Pjrsentative Poiver. 

The objects of knowledge which may be present to 
the soul and directly known, include (i) the acts and 
states of the soul, and the soul itself; (2) external 
material objects, including material phenomena; and 
(3) the necessary relations of objects of knowledge, as 
the relations of space, time, cause and effect, design, 
being, etc. 

Consciousness. 

The power of the soul to know its own acts and 
states and itself as the knower, is called Consciousness. 
Consciousness perceives directly and immediately the 
soul's phenomena, and on the certainty of this sub- 
jective knowledge depends the validity of all knowl- 
edge. If I do not know my feelings, my thoughts, 
and my purposes, / do not know any thing. It is not 
meant that the soul is conscious of all its acts and 
states, since there may be latent or unconscious psy- 
chical processes, but the acts and states of which it 
is conscious it knows with certainty. 

P>ery act of consciousness involves the perception 

of the soul or ego, as well as its act or state. We 

The Ego do not simply know an act of knowing, 

Known. y^^^ ^^g kuow that ive are knowing. It is 

not important, in this connection, to determine whether 

we are conscious of the ego, or whether we know the 



THE INTELLECT. 37 

ego by what has been called rational intuition.* The 
important truth is that in consciousness we know both 
the ego and its act or state, and we are as certain that 
the ego is as we are that its act or state is. 

It is further to be noted that consciousness is an 
immediate perception of the psychical act or state 
known. It does not succeed the phenom- 

^ Conscious- 

enon which it perceives, but it perceives it ness 

tvhcn it occurs, and hence all psychical phe- "'"'^ '^*^' 
nomena are really complex, the simplest consisting 
of an act or state of the ego and the perceiving of 
such act or state. 

It is an obvious fact of experience that the soul is 
not equally conscious of all its acts and states, the 
degree of consciousness varyingr from the _ , 

o J & Degrees of 

faintest to the clearest perception. It is con- 

an equally obvious experience that the dis- 
tinctness of consciousness may be increased by direct- 
ing or applying the mind to the act or state per- 
ceived, thus giving greater energy to the perceptive 
act, and greater vividness to the object perceived. 

The exercise of this power of active self-direction, 
with which the soul is endowed, is called attention. 
Attention has many dejjrees, varyinfj from 

, ■' ° Attention. 

an intense concentration of the mind on 

an object to a slight directive energy, and the soul is 



*The writer inclines to the view that we are directly conscious 
of the ego as well as its phenomena. It is true that rational in- 
tuition may apprehend the necessity of an ego, but how can intui- 
tion apprehend the necessity of a pai'ticular ego? Further, if the 
soul is conscious of the intuition, and then identifies the necessary 
subject with itself, such identification comes very near at least to 
being conscious of itself! 



38 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

conscious of many objects to which it gives Httle or 
no attention. It is thus seen that while conscious- 
ness may be attentive or non-attentive, it is very dif' 
ficult in practical experience to determine the line 
that separates the one from the other. 

This self-active principle of the soul, manifested in 
attention, is an attribute of the ivill, or, more accu- 
rately, of the soul in its power of willing. It is not 
only present in attentive consciousness, but in all the 
voluntary activities of the mind. Attention is the 
energizer and quickener of all the mental powers. 

Sense - Perception. 

The soul is endowed with the power to know di- 
rectly present material objects. This power is called 
Perception, and, since material objects are perceived 
by means of the special senses, it may be called 
Sense- Perception. This appellation distinguishes the 
power from consciousness and the act from the per- 
ception of psychical phenomena. Sense-perception 
may be defined as the power of the soul that knoivs 
directly material objects. 

The special senses involved in sense-perception are 
touch, sight, hearing, taste, smell, and the muscular 

Special sense. The function of the special sense- 

senses. organs is to receive impressions or vibra- 
tions from material objects, and convey them to the 
sensorium proper (p. 24), and thus to its central 
organ, the brain. 

The physical conditions or media of sense-percep- 
tion are (i) the sensorium, including the special 



THE INTELLECT. 39 

senses; (2) the presence of a material object adapted 
to the excitation of the sensonum through the senses;* 
and (3) the excitement of the sensorium to physical 
such a degree as to occasion sensations of conditions, 
which the soul is conscious. When these conditions co- 
exist, the soul perceives the external material object. 

The investigations of physiologists have thrown 
much light on the manner in which material objects 
affect the different sense-organs, and also sensorial 
on the excitation and action of the sen- Phenomena, 
sorium, and especially of the brain, but they neces- 
sarily stop with sensorial phenomena. It is impos- 
sible to cross the line that divides the physical and 
the psychical, and explain physiologically the action 
of the soul (p. 13). 

Sense-perception involves three co-existent psychical 
elements; viz, (i) sensation, a feeling; (2) the per- 
ceiving of the sensation, an act of con- psychicai 
sciousness ; and (3) the perception of the Elements, 
material object, or perception proper. But snice the 
sensation and the perceiving or being conscious of it 
are necessarily united, these two united acts may be 
considered one, and called the conscious sensation, 
and thus the three acts may be considered as only 
two distinct elements — the conscious sensation and pcr- 



* There is an apparent exception to this condition in the case of 
sensations by an abnormal or subjective excitement of the sen- 
sorium, as the sensations of light, sound, and taste caused by eli^c- 
tricity, the sensation of light occasioned by a blow on the head or 
other contusion of the brain, the ringing in the ears occasioned by 
quinine, etc. But these phenomena are only apparent exceptions, 
since, while the sensations occur, there is no actual perception of 
external material objects. 



40 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

ccption proper. The mind in sense-perception is con- 
scious of the sensation in the locus of the sensorial 
excitation, and directly perceives the material object 
or external cause. If, for example, a piece of ice in 
the darkness be touched with the hand, it feels cold, 
smooth, and moist, and through these conscious sen- 
sations the mind perceives the object touched to be 
ice, that is, it perceives the ice. 

The special sensations are, as a class, less obtrusive, 
and less definitely located than the organic and vital 
sensations, excepting those that are painful. The 
most obtrusive and definitely located of the special 
sensations are those of touch ; and, generally, the less 
obtrusive the sensation, the more acute the perception 
of the external cause. The touch is, in many respects, 
the leading sense. 

Psychologists have made various attempts to ex- 
plain how the mind passes from its sensations to the 
Theory knowing of the related material objects. 

and Fact. Most of the thcorics submitted have the 
fotal defect of assuming the activity of mental powers 
tJiat dipcnd on sense- perception for such activity."^ The 
young child sees material objects long before it can 
make an inference or reason from effect to cause. 
Whether the act of perception be explicable or not, 
it will suffice, for our present purpose, to know the 
fact that the mind is endowed with the power to 



* Several of these theories involve a knowledge of the structure 
and function of the sense-organs and the sensorium, whereas the 
mind in sense-perception does not consciously perceive either the 
sensorium or sensorial action. It is said that even Aristotle did 
not know that the eye has a retina, much less that visual objects 
are imaged thereon. 



THE INTELLECT. 4I 

perceive material objects when the necessary physical 
conditions exist. 

Sense-perceptions may be classified as original and 
acquired. 

An original perception is the perception of phe- 
nomena appropriate to a given sense by the exercise 
of that sense. The original tactual per- original 
ceptions are perceived through the sense Perception, 
of touch ; the original perceptions of color through the 
eye ; of sound, through the ear ; of smell, through the 
nose ; of taste, through the organs of taste ; and of 
weight and resistance or pressure, through the mus- 
cular sense. A completed perception through any 
sense or senses involves discrimination ; that is, the 
discerning of the object perceived as separate or dis- 
tinct from other perceived or known objects ; and 
hence discrimination is one of the primary acts of the 
mind. 

An acquired perception is the perception of phe- 
nomena appropriate to one sense by means of an- 
other sense. We learn by experience to Acquired 
perceive by the eye that a surface is Perception, 
smooth, or a rod of iron hot. A smooth surface 
"looks smooth," and iron, heated to a red or white 
heat, "looks hot." We learn to perceive that a cask 
is empty or full by rapping on it; that the wind is 
blowing by the waving of the trees; that the ground 
is frozen by the noise made by a passing wagon ; that 
a church edifice is near by the notes of the organ, 
etc. These acquired perceptions all depend on the 
prior existence of the original perceptions. A person 
born blind never gains an idea of color, and a person 
born deaf never gains an idea of sound. The senses 

VV. P.-4. 



42 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

of touch and sight are very closely associated, and 
the action of all the senses is intimately blended in 
experience. 

The acquired perceptions involve the activity of the 
higher intellectual powers, as memory, judgment, in- 
duction, etc., and the facility with which the mind 
interprets various sensations is marvelous. The mind 
perceives much more than the senses disclose. 

In perception the senses may be directed, ener- 
gized, and made acute by attention. The directions, 
Effects of Listen ! Hark ! Look ! Sec ! are appeals 
Attention, ^q |-|^g ^^jj^ ^q diicct and quicken percep- 
tive power, and how marvelously acute may any sense 
be thus made — or, more accurately, the mind acting 
through any sense. By an act of will, the mind may 
be held to the observing of only one of the many 
objects presented to it by a single sense, even to the 
exclusion of the others. An auditor may, for ex- 
ample, attend to only one voice in a chorus, hearing 
it distinctly, and so absorbed may be the mind as to 
hear only the one voice. The will may also lower 
or quite suspend the activity of one sense, while an- 
other sense is directed and energized. An observer 
may become so absorbed in seeing the General of the 
Army, marching at the head of a column, as not con- 
sciously to hear the band of music which precedes 
him. 

As a general rule, the mind distinctly perceives 
only those objects to which it gives some degree of 
Degree of attention — the exceptions being the cases 
Attention, jj^ wliicli the mind is spontaneously in- 
cited and held by the attractiveness of the object 



THE INTELLECT. 43 

perceived. An observer may pass through a gallery 
of paintings with mind fully absorbed in something 
else, and may go away with only an indistinct im- 
pression of the collection, or he may pass through 
without giving special attention to any of the paint- 
ings, and carry away only a general impression of the 
collection. If, however, the observer carefully studies 
one or more of the paintings, these may be recalled 
with distmctness even after the impression of the 
whole collection has become confused and indefinite. 
The same is true of the figures or objects in a single 
painting, all of which are at once imaged on the retina 
of the eye. An observer of West's ' ' Christ Re- 
jected " may direct his attention almost exclusively 
to the Christ, or to Christ and Pilate, or to Christ, 
Pilate, the High Priest, and the prostrate Magdalene, 
and afterwards in recalling the painting only the figure 
or figures thus closely observed will be clear and dis- 
tinct. These facts show that the permanency of the 
mental results of perception depends largely on the 
degree of attention that directs the perceptive act — a 
fact that has an important bearing on teaching. 

It is to be noted, in this connection, that while the 
mind may be directed and the senses energized by 
mere force of will, the attention is most 

Interest. 

easily given when the mind is attracted to 
or interested in the object observed. Interest invites 
and sustains attention, and this fact bears directly on 
the art of teaching. 

It is also to be observed that attention in sense- 
perception involves sensorial or nervous action. The 
eye, the ear, and the other senses are not only di- 



44 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

rected, but are quickened by means of nervous en- 
ergy or action imparted by the will, and close at- 
Nervous tentiou taxes and rapidly exhausts this 
Energy. ncrvous energy. When the amount of 
disposable nervous energy is exhausted or greatly re- 
duced, there is a conscious decline in the power of 
attention. This fact has also an important bearing on 
teaching, and especially on the teaching of children. 

Intuition. 

The soul is also endowed with the power to know 
directly and immediately the necessary relations of 
objects. This intellectual power is called hituition. 

The necessary relations known by intuition include 
the relations of space, time, being, substance and at- 

Reiations tribute, cause and effect, means and end, 
Perceived, design, etc. One or more of these rela- 
tions condition the perception of every object of 
knowledge, since the knowing of an object involves 
tJie knowing of its necessary relations. The intuitive 
perception of extension is clearly involved in the 
perception of an extended material object, and the in- 
tuitive perception of time is involved in the knowing 
of successive events. 

Intuition, like sense-perception and consciousness, 

has its necessary conditions of activity, and, when 

these conditions exist, the mind by an im- 

Conditions. 

mediate and inexplicable act perceives the 
involved relation. One of the conditions of every 
original intuition is that the necessary relation be 
presented to the mind /;/ the concrete. The mind first 
perceives the relation of space in the concrete, for ex- 



THE INTELLECT. 45 

ample, in the perception of an extended object as 
extended. It thus intuitively perceives the relation of 
space. The relation of time is originally perceived 
in the perception of events or phenomena as sticceed- 
ing each other. These relations of space and time are 
not discerned by sense -perception, since they condi- 
tion sense-perception, but are perceived intuitively.* 

All attempts to explain the intuitions of space, 
time, being, causation, etc., as inductions of expe- 
rience, involve the absurdity of explaining intuitions not 
an act by a process that is conditioned by inductions. 
such act. Every induction is based upon and involves 
one or more of these intuitions. The theory that the 
idea of extension is derived from the mind's connec- 
tion with an extended sensorium, involves the intui- 
tive perception of the sensorium as extended. 

Presentative Products. 

Every presentative act of the mind results in a psy- 
chical product, and this product varies with the pro- 
ducing act. 



* Intuition is considered by many psychologists as an act of the 
reason, but, when thus treated, it is made to include thought proc- 
esses as well as the presentative act that is considered intuition in 
the above analysis. Intuition is not the rational apprehension of 
the necessity or iniiversalify of a necessary relation, or its generaliza- 
tion, but the direct and immediate perception of the relation when 
presented to the mind in the concrete. These perceived relations 
are expressed by such simple terms as before, after, aver, under, cause, 
effect, etc. These necessary relations are as directly and immediately 
perceived by the mind as are the sensible phenomena of material 
objects, and are as clearly presentative acts. These primary intui- 
tions are the elements which are generalized into such universal 
truths as "Every event has a cause." 



46 ELEMENTS OF FED A GOGY. 

The perceiving or knowing of a feeling, as an emo- 
tion or a desire, results in a product, and it is this 
product (not the feeling) that is recalled 

Ideas. -^ ^ °' 

and reproduced by memory (p. 49). The 
products of consciousness are ideas, ''^ and the same 
term is applied to the products of intuitive acts. In- 
tuitive ideas are also called intuitions. 

The perception of a material object results in a psy- 
chical product, and this may be simple or compound. 
When this product is the result of one 

Percept. '■ 

perceptive act through a single sense, it is 
called a parcpt, and hence a percept is the simplest 
sense-product. 

When the percepts, resulting from several percep- 
tive acts through one or more senses, are combined 
Sense-c n- ^)^ syuthcsis iuto a psychical whole, the 
cept resulting product or image is called a con- 

'"^^^' cept, and the synthetic act is called con- 
ception. But to distinguish this individual concept 
from the general or thought concept, hereafter con- 
sidered (p. 62), it is called a sense-concept, and to dis- 
tinguish the producing synthetic act from the thought 
process that forms the general concept, it is called 
sense-conception. Whether a sense-concept is composed 
of few or many elements, it always represents an in- 



* A reference to any good English diclionary M'ill suffice to show 
that the term idea is applied to almost every mental product, from 
the simplest percept to the most complex notion or conception. 
For the purposes of this treatise, it has seemed best to apply the 
term to those intellectual products which are simple and not imaged. 
A sense- percept may be ideated or made abstract, and the result is 
then an idea. We have abstract ideas of color, form, hardness, 
smoothness, roughness, etc. 



THE INTELLECT. 4/ 

dividual object, as a tree or a horse, and hence it may 
properly be called an individual concept. 

It is thus seen that presentative products are called 
ideas, percepts, and sense-concepts, or individual con- 
cepts, and that these products all represent individual 
objects of knoii'ledgc. 

It is to be observed that sense-concepts are not ne- 
cessarily or usually composed exclusively of percepts. 
They may also contain the ideas of con- 

•' '' , , Apperception. 

sciousness and intuition, and elements fur- 
nished by imagination and thought (p. 41) ; and hence 
sense-concepts can be only partially imaged. This fact 
is an objection to the calling of sense-concepts images, 
as has been proposed. It is, indeed, a question 
whether all percepts can be imaged. It is thus seen 
that the act of perception is accompanied by associated 
acts, the resulting products being marvelously united. 
This adding of other intellectual acts to perception 
proper, thus enlarging and modifying the perceptive 
product, is called apperceptioti. 

Man's Condition with only Presentative Power. 

What would be man's intellectual condition were he 
endowed only with presentative power— the power to 
know present objects of knowledge ? It is evident 
that the individual products of consciousness, sense- 
perception, and intuition would constitute the sum 
total of human knowledge, and eacJi of these zvoidd 
vanisJi with the act that produces it. There would be 
no past in consciousness and no anticipated future. 
The conscious psychical life of every human being 
would be its present existence — a moving point. The 



48 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

so-called universe of man's knowledge would be 
bounded by the limited reach of the physical senses, 
and, without the aid of the higher mental powers, as 
in acquired perception, this reach would indeed be 
very limited. The sensorial effects produced by ma- 
terial objects through the senses are at best but im- 
perfect indicia of what the mind actually perceives and 
knows. The powers of thought discern vastly more 
than the eye or other sense discloses (p. 42). 

The Representative Power. 

The soul is endowed with the further power to rep- 
resent and reknow objects previously known. If, for 

Represen- cxample, I look at a tree and then close 
tation. j-j^y eyes, I see the tree in "my mind's 
eyc,"^~ and yet what I see when my eyes are closed 
is not the real tree, but that which represents and 
recalls it. The first of these acts (the seeing of the 
tree) is sense- perception, and its product is an image 
or sense-concept; the second act (the seeing of the 
tree in the mind's eye) is representation. Representa- 
tion may be defined as tJie representing and reknowing 
of objects previously known or experienced. 

The recalling and representing of an object pre- 
viously known involves primarily the reproducing of 
What re- tlic mental product which resulted from its 
produced, previous kuowiug or cognition, and this 
involves a self-active power of the soul. The distinc- 



*Dr. Porter uses a similar illustration witli this quotation; 

Hamlet. — My father — methinks I see my father ! 

Horatio. — Oh, where, my lord? 

Hamiet. — \n my mind's eye, Horatio. — SHAKESPEARE. 



THE INTELLECT, 49 

tion between representation and sense -perception is 
obvious. Sense-perception gives the original psychical 
product, whether a percept or sense-concept; repre- 
sentation recalls and reproduces this original product. 
Sense-perception is a presentative act, the object per- 
ceived or known being present ; representation repro- 
duces the presentative product, and thus represents 
the object previously known.* 

But representation is not limited to the reproduc- 
tion of the products of sense-perception. It repro- 
duces, in like manner, other presentative products 
(the ideas of consciousness and intuition) and the 
products of all other mental acts, including thought 
products and the creations of the imagination (p. 57). 
It is, however, to be specially noted that the feelings 
and other experiences of the soul are not reproduced 
in representation, but the ideas of these feelings and 
experiences (p. 46). 

The continuation of the power to reproduce the 
products of past psychical experience is called retention, 
and hence retention is a condition of rep- 

'■ Retention. 

resentation. When this reproductive power 
is not retained, representation is impossible. It is to 
be observed that what is retained is not the psychical 
product, whether an idea, concept, or thought, but 
the power to reproduce it. 



* Dugald Stewart uses conception to denote representation as here 
described, but it seems better to use the term conception to desig- 
nate the forming of the general concept (p. 62), and sense-con- 
ception to denote the synthesis of the original sense-concept or 
image (p. 46). Several psychologists include both the reproduc- 
tion of the sense-concept and its original synthesis in the acts of 
the imagination. There is an advantage in using different terms to 

denote these different acts and processes. 
W. P.-5. 



50 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

This fact satisfactorily explains what are called "the 
laws of association." These laws have been often re- 
Laws of ferred to some condition or force external 
Association, ^q |-}^£ mind, as the laws of cerebral activ- 
ity, the attraction of ideas, etc., but representation is 
a mental act, and the active principle is in the mind 
itself The conditions of psychical action may be 
external, but the principle of such action must be 
internal or subjective. This subjective principle of 
representation is stated by Dr. Porter (Human Intel- 
lect, p. 282) in these words: 

' ' The mind tends to act again more readily in a man- 
ner or form ivhich is similar to any in ivJiicJi it lias acted 
before, in any defined exertion of its energy. 

This principle of psychical tendency explains all the 
phenomena of representation, and is in harmony with 
all its known conditions, including bodily states, states 
of feeling, special associations, energy of original ac- 
tivity, vividness of apprehension, strength of attending 
emotion, recentness of experience, frequency of recur- 
rence, coincidence with prevalent habits, etc. The 
facility with which the mind reproduces the product of 
any past experience depends on one or more of these 
conditions, for the reason that they increase the ten- 
dency of the mind to act again as it has acted before. 
The two enduring results of all psychical activity are 
poiver and tendency, and the greater the energy and 
intensity of the act, the greater, other things being 
equal, the resulting power and tendency (p. 31). 

This principle has a wide application in education. 
It not only applies to the training of the memory 
and other mental powers, but to the cultivation of the 
feelings, the will, and even the bodily powers. 



THE INTELLECT. 5 I 



Simple Representation. 



It is possible for tlie mind to reproduce the product 
of a past cognition or experience without reknowing 
or recognizing the object represented as one previously- 
known. I may, for example, see "in my mind's eye" 
a face, previously seen, without recognizing it. In 
Hke manner, I may recall a verbal expression or a 
sentiment without recognizing it as an expression or 
sentiment previously heard or known. In these ex- 
amples the products of past cognition or experience 
are simply reproduced in consciousness, and are thus 
represented to the mind. This is the simplest form 
or act of representation, and hence is properly desig- 
nated as simple represcJitation. Simple representation 
may be described as representation withotit recognition. 
It is also called phantasy, but phantasy includes other 
phenomena (p. 58). 

Memory. 

The mind has the power not only to represent ob- 
jects previously known, but to reknow or recognize 
them as objects of previous cognition. This includes 
not only the representation of the objects previously 
known, but also the representation of their essential 
relations of time, place, and the ego. This complete 
representation of the soul's past experience \s Memory. 
Memory may be defined as the power of the soul to 
represent and trknoiv objects previously knoxun or expe- 
rienced. 

It is thus seen that an act of memory consists of 
two distinct acts; viz, (i) the representa- Elements of 
tion of an object previously known (includ- Memory, 
ing recalling or recollection and reproduction,) and 



52 EL EM E NTS OF FED A GOGV. 

(2) the reknowing of the object as previously known. 
In other words, memory includes simple representation 
and recognition, the latter being the characteristic ele- 
ment. 

It is not essential to an act of memory that the two 
elements of representation and recognition be equally 
full and distinct. The representation may be full and 
vivid, and the recognition partial and faint, or the 
recognition may be full and clear, and the representa- 
tion only a faint outline. I may, for example, vividly 
recall a painting once seen, or a startling cry of dis- 
tress once heard, but may not be able definitely to 
locate either in time or place, only certainly knowing 
that I once saw the painting or heard the cry. This 
would be an example of vivid representation and im- 
perfect recognition. On the other hand, I may recall 
with great distinctness the time and place of a mete- 
oric shower, and my feelings as I witnessed the grand 
display, and yet I may be able to reproduce only a 
faint image of the scene. This would be a case of 
full and clear recognition with partial and faint rep- 
resentation. 

In perfect mcmor)' both representation and recog- 
nition arc full and clear; in imperfect memory one at 
Perfect and l*^3.st is partial or indistinct. As a rule, 
Imperfect representation is more or less imperfect. 

Memory. ,^^. . . , . ^ , . - , , 

ihis IS cnieliy due to the tact that the 
mind does not give equal attention to all the elements 
that make up a psychical experience, and, as a con- 
sequence, the mind does not equally retain the power 
to reproduce them. The elements that receive the 
greatest attention and involve the intensest psychical 
activity are the most readily recalled. The fact that 



THE INTELLECT. 53 

the several elements of a complex past experience 
are reproduced one by one, by successive acts, con- 
tributes to this result. The eye, for example, may 
take in a landscape at a glance, but the resulting 
image is represented to the mind by a succession of 
acts under the conditions of association, and only the 
more distinct features are reproduced. 

It is to be noted that while the relations of time 
and place may not be distinctly represented and rec- 
ognized in every act of memory, the mind The Ego 
must clearly recognize as its own the psy- '" Memory, 
chical experience represented. When this ego rela- 
tion is not distinctly recognized, the act is not mem- 
ory, but simple representation. 

The question has often been raised whether abso- 
lute forgetfulness is possible. Numerous well-authen- 
ticated examples of recalling apparently Forget- 
long-forgotten acquisitions and experiences fulness. 
strengthen the theory that the mind never absolutely 
loses the power to represent any conscious experi- 
ence, and that apparent forgetfulness is due to unfa- 
vorable conditions of soul or body. 

Attention is also called to the fact that memory does 
not represent the actual objects previously known, but 
the products of their previous cognition, ideas 
and this is true of all psychical experi- Recalled, 
ences. The memory of a grief, for example, is not 
the grief refelt, though the memory may awaken a 
like grief. Memory recalls only ideas of the joys and 
sorrows, pleasures and pains, hopes and fears, choices 
and denials, spiritual victories and defeats, which we 
may have experienced (p. 49). 



54 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

The so-called arts of memory are based on the con- 
ditions of representation already stated (p. 52). The 
Arts of obvious and essential fact is that, other 

Memory. conditions being equal, the mind recalls 
fnost readily tvJia^ it apprcJiends most clearly. But a 
clear and vivid apprehension depends on close atten- 
tion, and this depends on active interest, which is 
usually excited by emotion, affection, or desire. These 
subjective conditions are modified by bodily health, 
mental habits, frequency of repetition, nature of asso- 
ciations, freedom from mental distractions, etc. Most 
of these conditions are included in Coleridge's three 
memory arts for the student ; viz, sound logic, healthy 
digestion, and a clear conscience. The first of these 
arts is intellectual, the second physical, and the third 
moral. 

The one comprehensive rule for the cultivation of 
the memory is its exercise zvith fidelity to the tnitJi. 
Cultivation The propcr exercise of any power increases 
of Memory, jj- ^p^ ^j^^ ^j-,(j |-}^g mcmory is no excep- 
tion. True memory involves a fai-thful reproduction 
of past experience, and its exercise may be vitiated 
by modifications suggested by prejudice, desire, or 
fancy. The habit of mixing what is imagined or con- 
jectured, with what actually occurred, weakens the 
memory and lessens its trustworthiness. Dr. Porter 
truly says "that, while the liar has more pressing 
need of a good memory than other men, he is of all 
men the least likely to possess it." (Human Intellect, 
P- 325). 

Memory may be distinguished as spontaneous and 
intentional. In spontaneous memory the will is pas- 



THE INTELLECT. 55 

sive, the representative act being involuntary; in in- 
tentional memory the will is active and directing, and 
the representative act is voluntary. The Kinds ot 
several varieties of memory, as verbal, his- Memory, 
toric, philosophic, mathematical, etc., are readily ex- 
plained by the principles and conditions of memory 
above given. 

Imagination. 

The mind is also endowed with the power to mod- 
ify and recombine the reproduced ideas and images 
of objects previously known. This modifying repre- 
sentative power is called the hnagination. The im- 
agination may be defined as tJic power of the mind to 
represent and modify or recombine objects previously 
known. * 

It is this power to modify and reconddne past psy- 
chical experiences that distinguishes the imagination 
from memory. Memory represents an ob- Memory and 
ject as it was previously known. It faith- imagination, 
fully reproduces the products of past experience — tell- 
ing the truth. The imagination changes these indi- 
vidual products or groups, and combines them at will. 
The memory, for example, reproduces the image of a 
tree as formed by seeing it ; the imagination changes 
this image in one or several respects. The image re- 



* Several psychologists define the imagination as the imaging 
power of the mind, and include among its acts the synthesis of 
sense-concepts, and the reproducing of the sense-products in rep- 
resentation and memory. According to tliis view, the imagination 
includes phases of sense-perception, representation, memory, and 
even phantasy. The author has preferred to use the term imagina- 
tion to designate a distinct mental act or process and its corre- 
sponding power. 



56 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

produced by memory represents a tree actually seen ; 
the image formed by the imagination represents no 
actual tree. The imagination is the modifier, recom- 
biner, and creator of psychical images. 

The imagination has three somewhat distinct phases 
of activity and development, which may be designated 
as the Modifying, the ConsMictivc, and the Creative. 

1. The modifying phase includes (i) the imagining 
of one known thing to be another known thing; as 

Modifying the conceiving of a broomstick to be a 
Phase. horse, a row of blocks a train of cars, a 
doll, a live baby, etc. ; and (2) the imagining of a 
known object, material or spiritual, to be enlarged or 
diminished in size or intensity, or otherwise changed 
in some attribute or quality; as the conceiving of a 
mouse to be as large as a dog, or a dog as small as 
a mouse, snow to be red, ice to be hot, etc. Both 
of these forms of modifying the products of psychical 
experience appear very early in the child's life. 

2. The constructive phase of the imagination in- 
cludes the combining of ps)'chical elements, suggested 
Constructive by another mind, into new wholes, also 

Phase. suggested ; as the imaging of a tree, an 
animal, or a house from a description, pictorial or 
verbal. The elements thus combined or synthesized 
are furnished by the representative power under the 
guidance of another mind, and the resulting whole is 
not an original creation. I may, for example, show 
another person the picture of a family, and add a 
verbal description of the parents and the children, 
their feelings towards each other, their actions, etc., 
and, as a result of constructive activity, the person 
observing and hearing will have a mental picture of 



THE INTELLECT. 57 

the family more or less similar to the one in my own 
mind. This is eminently the school phase of the im- 
agination, and is exercised in teaching reading, geog- 
raphy, etc. 

3. In its creative phase the imagination conceives 
or constructs new wholes from materials or elements 
furnished by representation, the whole thus creative 
constructed being a new creation ; as the Phase, 
imaging of an unseen landscape, a dramatic scene that 
represents no real occurrence, etc. It is the creative 
imagination that furnishes the artist, the inventor, and 
the discoverer with their ideals, and that characterizes 
the poet, the dramatist, and the novelist. 

In all these forms of activity, the imagination uses 
the materials or elements furnished by representation 
from experience. It creates no new ele- Materials 
ment. The painter can not imagine a new Used, 
color, nor can the dramatist imagine a new emotion, 
affection, or desire. But the imagination can modify 
the products of experience. The painter can change 
a color to a hue or tint which he has not seen, and 
the poet can imagine a love more intense and de- 
voted than he has ever felt, and a passion more con- 
suming than has ever burned in his bosom. Shakes- 
peare may have never experienced the intensity of 
Othello's jealousy, or the horror of Macbeth's re- 
morse. 

It may be added that the imagination acts under 
the control and guidance of the other pow- Further 
ers of the intellect and of the will, and in conditions, 
the most active conditions of the soul. All its crea- 



58 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

tions are in harmony with the laws and relations of 
space, the conditions of time, and the other neces- 
sary relations of real beings and phenomena. 

Phantasy. 

The tendency of the soul to repeat its former acts 
and states manifests itself in an interesting form of 
representation, called p/iantasy. It is characterized 
by the fact that the reproductive act is spontaneous 
and involuntary, and especially by the fact that past 
images, whether the products of sense or imagination, 
are reproduced in capricious and often inexplicable 
combinations. As in simple representation (p. 51), 
the reproduced images are not recognized as the prod- 
ucts of past experience, and, in some cases, the result- 
ing phantasms seem present realities. 

This spontaneous and capricious activity of the 
representative power occurs when the other mental 
Conditions powcrs and the will are partially or wholly 
of Phantasy, passivc, as in reverie, dreaming, and vari- 
ous forms of delirium and insanity. In day-dreams or 
reverie, the simplest form of phantasy, the other pow- 
ers of the soul are sufficiently passive to permit the 
imaging power to act under the law of association 
without interruption, and past images, suggested by 
some obtrusive f(,'eling, may throng the mind. In 
certain wakeful states, called distraction, unbidden 
phantasms may follow each other so rapidly as to 
prevent memory, thought, or other intellectual acts. 

In some phases of jjhantasy, recognition or memory 
is more or less united with reproduction. An inter- 
esting example of phantasy in reverie, with partial 



THE INTELLECT. 59 

recognition, is given in Galton's "Inquiry into the 
Human Faculty" (p. 173). Mr. Galton says: 

"I once passed into a shop in London to order a Dutch cheese, 
and the proprietor (a bullet-headed man whom I had never seen 
before) rolled a cheese on the marble slab of his counter, asking 
if that would do. I answered 'Yes,' and left the shop, and thought 
no more of the incident. The following evening, on closing my 
eyes, I saw a head, detached from the body, rolling about sliglitly 
on a white surface. I recognized the face but could not remember 
where I had seen it, and it was only after thinking about it for 
some time, that I recognized it as the head of the cheese-monger 
who sold me the cheese on the previous day." 

It is believed that this spontaneous activity of the 
imaging power is usually occasioned by some nervous 
or sensorial excitement which awakens sen- How oc- 
sations previously associated with the ob- casioned. 
jects represented. Mahan gives the illustration of a 
sick person with a bottle of hot water at his feet, 
who dreamed that he was walking upon the crater of 
^tna. He once had felt similar burning sensations 
when walking upon the crater of Vesuvius, and he 
had just been reading of a traveler's experience upon 
the crater of /Etna (Mental Philosophy, p. 100). The 
necessary sensorial action may be caused by indiges- 
tion, cerebral excitement, or other derangement of 
the nervous organism. All that is required is senso- 
rial excitement awakening sensations which, in turn, 
become the excitants of the reproductive power in 
associated activities. 

The mind in phantasy seems also endowed with a 
creative energy that goes beyond representation, and 
this may be true ; but many of the wild creative 
and grotesque phantasms that seem crea- Phantasy, 
tions are only strange combinations of separated im- 



60 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

ages occasioned by abnormal sensorial activity. The 
thought powers are also sometimes unusually active 
in sleep. We have illustrations in the solution of 
problems in sleep that baffle the mind when awake, 
and in the command of a felicity of thought and 
expression that excels all wakeful efforts in this di- 
rection. This may be due to an unusually excited 
condition of the intellect, and the concentration of 
its thought powers on the one activity without the 
distractions of sense or memory. 

There is a marked distinction between the products 
of phantasy proper, and those hallucinations or spec- 
Haiiuci- tral illusions that characterize the deliriums 
nations. ^f ^^\^^^ insane victims of alcohol, opium, 
and other poisonous drugs, and also of other maladies 
that destroy the normal action of the senses and the 
brain. In phantasy, the senses are either not active 
or receive little attention, but in hallucinations and 
apparitions the senses are active and cooperativ^e, and 
often their abnormal activities occasion the illusion. 
The malady affects the special sense-organs, and pro- 
duces sensations which mislead the perceptive power. 
The anticipations of the mind also exert a remarkable 
influence upon sensorial action. 

Man's Condition with only Presentative and 
Representative Powers. 

It may be both interesting and suggestive to ask 
here what man's intellectual condition would be were 
he endowed only with presentative power, including 
consciousness, sense -perception, and intuition, and 
representative power, including memory, imagination, 



THE INTELLECT. 6 1 

and phantasy. Since all objects known by presenta- 
tive activity are individual, all represented objects 
would necessarily be individual, and hence all of mail s 
knoivlcdge wojild relate to individual objects, and zvould 
be limited to his individual experience. Memory would 
be busy in representing and reknowing the individual 
objects of sense and consciousness, and in recalling 
the scanty pictures of the sense-fettered imagination, 
and the unrecognized images of phantasy, its fleeting 
shadows of forgotten experiences, would unbidden 
throng the vacant mind. Human language would be 
almost wholly limited to the few vocal and visual 
signs which instinct marvelously interprets. The sen- 
tence, if not the word, would be impossible. Man's 
knowledge would be original, but in fragments. 

The Thought Power. 

The human soul is further endowed with the power 
to form general concepts and ideas, and to apply 
them in a great variety of intellectual acts and proc- 
esses. It compares known objects and discerns their 
likenesses and their differences. It forms general con- 
cepts to represent like objects, and then under these 
concepts arranges them in classes. It discerns the 
qualities and relations of objects, material and spirit- 
ual, and affirms these qualities and relations as facts. 
It sees in like particular facts the general fact that 
includes them. It passes from general facts to prin- 
ciples, and from these to laws. It discovers causes 
from effects, and infers effects from causes. It fore- 
casts what will occur by rightly interpreting what has 
occurred. It explains events by referring them to the 



62 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

discovered laws of nature or of necessity. It sees in 
the phenomena of spirit the attributes and laws of 
spirit, and reads in the adaptations of created things 
the designs of the Creator. 

These various intellectual acts are called thinking; 
and the resulting products, thoughts. The power to 
Thinking think is called the thought power, or, 
and Thought, j-nore briefly. Thought.'^ Thought may be 
defined as the poivcr of the soul to form and rationally 
apply general conceptions. General conceptions, as here 
used, include not only general concepts (see below), 
but inductions and all other mental products formed 
by generalization. 

Conception. 

The simplest act of thinking is the forming of the 
general concept, or notion, which represents a class 
General of objccts ; and the simplest of these gen- 
concepts. g^^j conccpts are those which represent 
classes of material objects; as, tree, fence, peach, bird, 
etc. These class concepts represent what is common 
or general to all the objects of the class, and hence 
they are called general concepts. 

The process of forming a general concept includes 

comparison and discrimination, analysis, abstraction. 

Acts synthesis, and generalization. This may 

involved. j^g shown by an analysis of the process of 

*This power is designated by vaiious appellations, as the tmder- 
standittg, the intelligence, the reason, the rational faculty, the reflect- 
ive faculty, the elaborative faculty, etc. The author prefers the ap- 
pellation Thought Power, or Thought, used Ijy Dr. Noah Porter. 
The objection that the term thought is used to designate the power, 
the act, and the product, is not serious, since the word is used in 
literature in these three senses. 



THE INTELLECT. 63 

forming the general concept tree. The mind perceives 
a tree, forming an image of it, or sense-concept; it 
sees another tree, forming an image of it, and it sees 
other trees, forming images of them. At some point 
in the forming of these individual images, the mind 
compares the objects and sees that they are like or 
different. It analyzes the images, noting their com- 
mon elements, and abstracts each, that is, thinks of 
each apart from the other elements. It then synthe- 
sizes these common elements into a new whole or 
concept and generalizes it, that is, thinks it as the 
general representative of all the objects considered. 

It is not meant that these several acts or steps nec- 
essarily occur in the exact order indicated, nor that 
they are clearly separable in consciousness. It is also 
noted that since individual sense- concepts contain in- 
tuitions and thought elements, as well as percepts (p. 
47), the general concept also contains these elements. 

Since all of these several acts assist in the forming 
of the general concept, the entire process is called 
s;eneralization ; and, to distinguish it from . 

* ' ° Appellation. 

other thought generalizations (hereafter 
considered), it is called Conceptive Generalization, or, 
more briefly, Conception. Conception is the primary 
act of thinking. 

Percepts may be generalized, as well as concepts, and 
by a similar process. A percept may be abstracted 
from individual concepts, or from the gen- General 
eral concept that represents such concepts, ideas, 
and it is then ideated (p. 46), and becomes an abstract 
idea. If this abstract idea be thought of as repre- 
senting a common attribute of several objects, it is 



64 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

generalized and becomes a general abstract idea. All 
our ideas of psychical phenomena thus pass from the 
particular to the general ; and, as a result, we have 
such general ideas as love, fear, hope, faith, purpose, 
choice, etc. 

The distinction between a general concept and a 
general idea, as used in this analysis, is that the for- 
, mer is coinpowul and the latter simple. The 
Concepts and general concept is composed of several ele- 
ments, and is the product of a synthetic 
act ; the general idea consists of but one clement, 
the product of a single act, and hence there is no 
synthesis in its generalization.* 

It will be observed that general concepts and gen- 
eral ideas are not the products of direct perception or 
knowing, as presentative products are, but they are 
formed from particular concepts and ideas by general- 
izing their common elements. The general is reached 
through the particular by tJiinking. 

All general concepts are in reality abstract, but in 
their applications they may be considered as concrete 

Concrete Of ctbstract. When a concept is applied to 
and Abstract. ^ class of material objects, it is concrete; 
when it represents a purely ideal or thought object, 
it is abstract. Man is concrete ; manhood is abstract. 
Human being is concrete; humanity is abstract. No 
general concept can be imaged, but every concrete 
general concept may be thought into an individual 



'•■•'General ideas, as here defined, are also called simple concepts; 
but it is believed to be better to apply the term general concept to 
the compound product, and general idea to the simple, though this 
may seem a somewhat arbitrary distinction. 



THE INTELLECT. 65 

concept, and thus imaged, the imaged concept repre- 
senting an individual object.* 

The individual objects which a general concept 
represents, may be arranged under it as a group or 
class. This process is called classification. ciassifica- 
Objects may also be arranged into classes *'°"- 

and sub-classes, the highest class representing the 
genus, and the sub -classes species. This process is 
called gencrification. 

Concepts and ideas, general and particular, are rep- 
resented by words which assist the mind in recalling 
and applying them. To this end, words words as 
are invented and associated with concepts signs. 
and ideas as their signs, and, when so associated, the 
word occasions the recall of the mental product which 
it represents. When a word is not associated with a 
concept or idea as its sign, the word has no meaning 
or import. It is merely a sensuous object— a form or 
a sound. 

The essential condition in the use of words as means 
of communication between different minds, is that the 
words used by one mind as the signs of concepts not 
concepts or ideas be associated with the Transferred. 
same concepts or ideas in the mind receiving them. 
A word can not convey or transfer a concept or idea 



■■-The fact that the general concept can not be imaged has led 
some to doubt its reality, the doubt being based on the assumption 
that nothing is real that can not be imaged ; but this very ihuht can 
not be imaged! The phenomena of consciousness that can not be 
imaged, are as real and certain as tliose that can be. The highest 
and most important verities of which man has knowledge, can not 
be pictured to the mind's eye. 



66 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

from one mind to another. Every concept or idea is 
formed in the mind that possesses it by the jnimVs oivn 
action. It is not received ; it is produced. A word 
can only occasion the mind's action ; and that it may 
occasion the recalling of a concept or idea, it must be 
associated with such concept or idea. 

These facts are of great importance in education, 
and they will be frequently recognized in the principles 
and methods of teaching presented in the following 
pages. The supposition that ideas can be transferred 
by words from one mind to another, as water can be 
poured from one vessel into another, is the source of 
much error in teaching. 

It is worthy of remark that words not only repre- 
sent general concepts and ideas, but also individual 
,., , ^. concepts. The so-called proper nouns are 

Words Signs ^ . 

of Individual namcs of particular or individual objects — 
^^^^^' largely the names of persons, places, do- 
mestic animals, and other objects, to which man needs 
to refer in common speech. Few, if any, words rep- 
resent partiadar ideas. The words that represent the 
acts and states of the soul, the actions of animals and 
plants, and the attributes, qualities, and relations of 
objects, are general. An act or event is represented 
as particular by connecting with the general word, 
which expresses it, a proper noun or a phrase con- 
taining a proper noun, and then the expression rep- 
resents a concept. We thus speak of Adam's fall, 
Abraham's faith, Cataline's defiance, the fall of Baby- 
lon, the Harrison campaign, etc. It is obvious that 
there would be little, if any, use for proper nouns if 
there were no words expressing general concepts and 
ideas to use with them. 



THE INTELLECT. 6/ 

Judgment. 

It has been shown that the forming of the general 
concept involves the act of comparison. The mind 
perceives successively that several individual oranges 
are yellow, and by comparison it discerns that all of 
the oranges are yellow. This common quality or 
likeness may be discerned in connection with the or- 
anges, and the result may be expressed by the phrase, 
"Yellow oranges." But the mind may not only dis- 
cern the common quality or likeness of the several 
oranges by comparison, but it may think, or mentally 
affirm, this quality or likeness of the compared or- 
anges, the result being expressed by the sentence, 
"These oranges are yellow." 

The discerning of a common likeness of several ob- 
jects by comparison \?, judging, and the resulting men- 
tal product is a judgment. When the like- g.^ ^^ 
ness of the compared objects is discerned and Formal 
in connection with the objects, as "yellow ^'"^' 

oranges," the act is called simple ox primmy judging. 
When the discerned likeness of compared objects is 
formally thought or affirmed of them, as "These or- 
anges are yellow," the act is called fortnal judging. 
The affirmance of an attribute of an individual object, 
as "This orange is yellow," is also formal judging. 

But the comparing of different objects to discern 
their likenesses also involves the discerning of their 
differences, or discrimination, otherwise the Discrimi- 
objects compared would be perceived as nation, 
one and the same object. It follows that judging in- 
volves discrimination, (p. 41). 



68 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

Judgment as a capacity may be defined as the power 
of the sold to discern and affirm the likenesses and dif- 
ferences of objects of knoivledij^e. It may also be defined 
as the immediate discerning of an attribute or relation 
as common to all known objects compared. 

The term judgment is also applied to the product 
or result of an act of judging. The phrases, "yel- 
low oranges," "red apples," and "crooked 

Judgments. " ^ '_ 

lines" express simple judgments; and the 
sentences, "These oranges are yellow," "These ap- 
ples are red," and "These lines are crooked," express 
formal judgments.* 

Formal judgments may be classified as particular 
and general. When an attribute is affirmed or denied 
Par.ticuiar of ouc Or Several particular objects, the re- 
and General, suiting judgments are particular; and when 
an attribute is affirmed or denied of all known objects 
of a class, the judgment is general. "This orange is 
yellow" and "These oranges are yellow" are partic- 
ular judgments; "Oranges are yellow" is a general 
judgment. Every general judgment based immedi- 
ately on a discerned likeness or difference is limited 
to the knoivn objects of a class, and hence is not 
universal. The limited general judgment, "Swans are 
white," is equivalent to " All known swans are white." 

A formal judgment expressed in words is a proposi- 
tion. Every proposition contains two terms, called 
. . subiect and predicate. When one of the 

Proposition. •' ' 

terms of a proposition is an individual con- 

* Simple or primary judgments are also calleil natural and psy- 
chological, and formal judgments are called artificial, secondary, logical^ 
and predicative. 



THE INTELLECT. 69 

cept, the proposition is particular. "Moses was a 
lawgiver" is a particular proposition. When the terms 
of a proposition are both general concepts, or a gen- 
eral concept and an idea, the proposition is general. 
"Trees have roots" is a general proposition. 

A true judgment is a fact. Facts, like judgments, 
are classified as particular and general. The sen- 
tences, "The birds flew away," "The child 

Facts. 

is blind," "These flowers are withered," 
express particular facts. The sentences, "Trees have 
roots," "Roses are fragrant," express general facts. 
It should be added that all general facts are not facts 
of judgment, in the sense in which judgment is here 
used. There are also facts of inference or reason, the 
same being not only general, but universal (p. 70), 
Universal truths are sometimes called facts of mediate 
judgment. 

It is seen from the above analysis that the judgment 
is the source of the sentence in language. Conception 
gives concepts, which are represented by The 

words. The formal judgment compares Sentence, 
concepts, or concepts and ideas, or ideas ; and the 
discerned relation is expressed by the sentence. 

The Reason. 

Our analysis now reaches the last and the highest 
power of the human intellect ; viz, the power which 
discerns in what is known of several objects of a class 
what is true of all objects of this class, known and 
unknown, thus passing from the facts of observation 
and judgment to general facts more comprehensive 



70 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

and universal ; the power which also discerns in a 
general fact the validity of all included facts, thus 
descending from a knowledge of general and universal 

Reason truths to a knowledge of particular facts. 

Defined. Thls oiarvelous power is called the Reason. 
It may be defined as tJic poiver of the soul that passes 
from particular facts as reasons to a general fact, or 
from a general fact to the included particular facts. 

As above indicated, there are two kinds or processes 

of reasoning ; to wit, ( i ) the reasoning from particular 

Kinds of facts to a general fact, called induction, 

Reasoning. ^^^^ ^2) the reasoniug from a general fact 

to particular facts, called deduction. 

Induction. 

It has been shown that a general judgment is really 
limited to known objects, and hence is not a universal 
truth. But the mind is endowed with the power and 
tendency to pass from the facts of observation and 
judgment, limited to known objects, to those universal 
facts which include not only known objects, but related 
unknown objects, and this is done when the mind sees 
in the known and limited a ground or reason for in- 
ferring the universal. The act of discerning in the 
known and limited a reason and so inferring the uni- 
versal, is called induction, and the same term is applied 
to the act or process and the result. 

The distinction between immediate judgment and 
induction may be made clear by a single example. 
I have seen several elephants, and have observed that 
each one has a proboscis or trunk. I generalize these 
particular observations into the fact, all these elephants 



THE INTELLECT. J I 

have tnuiks. This is an immediate judgment, and in- 
cludes only known elephants. If I now enlarge this 
judgment by the inference that what I have judging and 
observed to be true of the known elephants induction, 
must be true of all elephants, I reach the general fact, 
all elephants have tnuiks. This is an induction, and it 
includes all elephants, known and unknown. It is 
thus seen that the general judgment is limited; the 
induction, universal. 

In judging, the mind immediately discerns an attri- 
bute or relation as common to all known objects com- 
pared, but what is the ground and nature Ground of 
of the process called induction? How does induction, 
the mind pass with confident step from what is true of 
known objects to the inference that the same is true 
of all objects of the class, known and unknown ? This 
question can be best answered by a few illustrations. 

Let us begin with the one already used. I have 
seen, say ten, elephants, and have observed that each 
has a trunk, and, with confidence, I make , , 

' ' ' niustrations. 

the induction, all elephants have trunks. 
Why? I have seen, say ten, deer, and have observed 
that each one has antlers or horns, but I hesitate to 
make the induction, all deer have horns. Why? Why 
do I make the induction confidently in the first case, 
and not in the second? 

In the case of the elephants, I observe that each 
animal has long legs and a very short neck, and in 
these and other observed attributes I see that the 
elephant's trunk is a necessary means for its obtaining 
food and drink. I thus discern in the nature of the 
elephant a sufficient reason for the induction that 



72 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGV. 

all elephants have trunks. In the case of the deer, 
I do not observe that the horns are necessary means 
to obtain either food or drink, and, since the deer is 
one of the fleetest of animals, I do not see the ne- 
cessity of its horns as a means of defense. Hence I 
do not discern in the fact that all the ten known deer 
have horns, or in any other observed facts, a sufficient 
reason for the induction that all deer have horns. My 
hesitancy to make such an inference may be strength- 
ened by the observed fact that all the deer which I 
have seen are male, not a female deer being included. 

Let us take one more illustration. I am shown 
several triangles drawn on paper, and I observe that 

Another cacli triangle has three sides. I, however, 
niustration. hesitate to make the induction that all 
triangles have three sides until I see that what is true 
in this respect of the triangles observed must be true 
of any triangle, that the fact of three angles neces- 
sitates the fact of three sides. When I discern this 
necessary relation between the number of angles and 
the number of sides of a triangle, I make the certain 
induction that all triangles have three sides. 

It is thus seen that the ground on which the mind 

certainly infers that what is true of known objects is 

also true of unknown like objects, is the 

The Reason. •' 

discernment of a cause or reason for what 
is true of the known. The fact that a score or more 
of known elephants, without exception, have trunks, 
would be no valid ground for the induction that all 
elephants have trunks, if the mind did not discern the 
necessary adaptation of the elephant's trunk to its 
nature and existence. 



THE INTELLECT. 73 

The validity of an induction depends on the validity 
of the reason on which it is made. When the discerned 
reason of the inference is a necessity of validity of 
nature or thought, an induction is certain induction, 
knowledge. The claim that we do not know the unob- 
served facts included in a certain induction, is playing 
with the word know. We know any thing when we 
are certain that it is (p. 35), and the knowledge gained 
by induction may be even more certain than some 
knowledge gained by observation. 

It is also to be observed that while all immediate 
judgments, simple or formal, are limited by obser- 
vation and experience, the inductions of Basis of 
reason transcend both observation and ex- induction, 
perience (as usually understood), and rest in those 
necessary truths which the mind intuitively appre- 
hends, including the necessary relations of time, space, 
substance and attribute, cause and effect, means and 
end, adaptation, design, etc. It is thus seen that in 
the final analysis, the validity of the true inductions 
of reason depends on the certainty of the mind's direct 
apprehension of the necessary relations of the objects 
of knowledge. 

In inductive reasoning, the mind may proceed on 
the assumption that what is true of known objects 
must be true of all objects like them — 

■' Analogy. 

that an observed similarity of known ob- 
jects is a universal attribute of all like objects. This 
is called reasoning from analogy, and it is the source 
of much error. A person who has seen only white 
sheep, infers that all sheep are white. A traveler who 

has personally met only dishonest Arabs in a journey, 
w. p.— 7. 



74 ELEMENTS OF FED A GOGY. 

infers that all Arabs are dishonest. These and similar 
inferences are not inductions proper, since the mind 
does not discern in the observed facts a reason that 
necessitates or justifies the inference. The only valid 
reason for such an induction is the discerned fact that 
the observed similarity is an essential attribute of the 
known objects. When this reason is not clearly dis- 
Probabie ccmcd, the induction is at best only a 
Inference, probable inference. It sometimes happens 
that the indications interpreted are only incidental 
concomitants, and then the induction is not even a 
probable truth. 

A serious error in reasoning often arises from the 

fact that when two events are coincident or occur in 

succession, the one is taken to be a cause 

Coincidences. 

and the other an effect. A farmer, for 
example, sows his seed for several years in a certain 
phase of the moon, and has good crops, and, suppos- 
ing that the moon has been the cause and the good 
crops the effect, he infers that this phase of the moon 
is the only proper time for sowing such seed. 

The inductions of common life are often based on 
incidental and superficial indications, and the tendency 

Common to hasty inferences leads to much error in 
Inductions, belief and conduct. This tendency is often 
aggravated by self-interest and prejudice. It is an 
important function of school education to correct this 
tendency by training the mind increasingly in the art 
of inductive reasoning. 

It is believed that most of the apparent inductions 
of young children are only general judgments broadly 
stated, and that most of their inductions are the 



THE INTELLECT. 75 

uncertain inferences of analogy. It remains, however, 
true that children make real inductions at an early- 
age, much earlier than certain theorists suppose (p. 
91). 

Deduction. 

Deductive reasoning is the inverse of induction. 
When we reason from the fact that every known wood 
is combustible to the general fact that all wood is 
combustible, we are reasoning by induction ; but when 
we reason from the general fact that all wood is 
combustible to the fact that a particular wood, as 
lignum-vitae, is combustible, we are reasoning by 
deduction. 

The following examples clearly illustrate deductive 
reasoning: 

All magnets attract iron ; this bar of steel is a 
magnet; hence it will attract this iron nail. 

All iron is attracted by a magnet ; this piece of 
metal is not attracted by a magnet; therefore it is 
not iron. 

All pure alcohol will burn ; this liquid will not 
burn ; hence it is not pure alcohol. 

All acid solutions change litmus -paper red; this 
solution does not change this litmus-paper red; hence 
it is not an acid solution. 

All men are mortal ; Moses was a man ; therefore 
Moses was mortal. 

It will be observed that each of the above examples 
of deductive reasoning consists of three The 

propositions; to wit, a general proposition Syiiogism. 
and two particular propositions, one being the inference 



76 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

or conclusion. This form of deductive reasoning is 
called the Syllogism. 

A syllogism consists of three propositions. The 
first or general proposition is called the Major Premise ; 
Premises and the sccond, the Miiior Premise ; and the 
Conclusion, third, the Coiclusicn. In the last of the 
above syllogisms, "All men are mortal" is the major 
premise; "Moses was a man," the minor premise; 
and "Moses was mortal," the conclusion. 

It is also to be noted that while each of the prop- 
ositions of a syllogism contains two terms (p. 68), the 
three propositions together contain only 
Middle Term, ^j^^^^^ different terms. The major and minor 
premises of every true syllogism contain a common 
term, called the middle term, and their two other 
terms are embodied in the conclusion. The necessity 
of a middle term in every syllogism often assists in 
the detection of a fallacy in syllogistic reasoning. 

It is not always necessary in deductive reasoning to 
state both of the premises. One premise may be so 
The Enthy- obvious as not to need formal expression, 
meme. j^^ ^j^g example, "Moses was a man, and 
hence he was mortal," the omitted major premise, 
*'A11 men are mortal," is obvious and readily sup- 
plied. In the example, "All men are mortal, and 
hence Moses was mortal," it is assumed that Moses 
was a man. A syllogism thus abridged by the omis- 
sion of one of its premises, is called an EutJiymeme. 

Various rules or dicta have been given for testing 

Rules of the validity of a syllogism, as the principles 

Deduction. Qf identity, of contradietiou, and the excluded 

middle, but these tests do not constitute the reason for 



THE INTELLECT. 'J'J 

the inference or conclusion. The mind may reason 
deductively with accuracy in utter ignorance of the 
syllogism as such, as well as of all the rules by which 
its validity can be tested. 

What is the nature of the reason that guides the 
mind from premises to conclusion ? It has been shown 
that the mind never infers with certainty 

. "^ The Reason. 

a general truth from particular facts until it 
discerns in the particular facts a sufficient reason for 
such inference (p. 'J2). This sufficient reason may be 
a discerned necessity of nature or of thought, including 
such necessary relations as cause and effect, means and 
end, substance and attribute, adaptation, etc. This 
discerned reason for the induction of a general truth 
from known particular facts constitutes the ground or 
reason for the deduction of a particular fact from a 
general truth. The mind discerns in the general truth 
the sufficient reason for inferring the particular fact. 

This is made clear by the following illustration : 
All material bodies are attracted towards the earth's 
center; this thistle-down is a material body: hence 
this thistle-down, which is now rising in the air, is 
attracted towards the earth's center. 

What is the ground or reason of this particular in- 
ference in the face of the evidence of the sense of 
sight ? Let us precede this question by another ; to 
wit, What reason enabled the mind to pass from a 
comparatively few observed facts of attraction to the 
general induction, "All material bodies are attracted 
towards the earth's center?" The sufficient reason for 
this induction is the belief that attraction is an essen- 
tial property of matter, an energy abiding in its 



78 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

essence, and thus the mind discerns in observed phe- 
nomena of attraction a cause {i-atio cssendi) which 
necessitates the inference that all material bodies are 
attracted towards the earth's center. It is this same 
discerned cause in the major premise that becomes 
the sufficient reasoti for the deduction of the particular 
fact that the floating thistle-down is actually attracted 
towards the earth's center. 

In what are called mathematical and logical deduc- 
tions, this sufficient reason is a necessary space or 
time relation or a thought relation. In all deductiv^e 
reasoning, it is the discerned necessary relation of 
this reason and conclusion that gives convincing force 
to the argument. 

It is thus seen that there is a very close relation 

between inductive and deductive reasoning. In all 

Induction probable reasoning, induction establishes 

and the truth of the major premise of the de- 

eduction. (jyctive syllogism, and either induction or 
formal judgment furnishes the minor premise. The 
validity of the conclusion depends on the validity of 
the premises. If either premise is only a probable 
truth, the conclusion will be only a probable truth. 
Deductive reasoning also assists in induction, and the 
two processes are generally more or less blended in 
all rational thought. 

It is also seen that both inductive and deductive 

reasoning depend on conception and judgment. Con- 

_ , ^. , ception furnishes the p-eneral concepts and 

Relation of ^ o ^ 

the Thought idcas whicli formal judgment compares in 

its propositions, and both inductive and 

deductive reasoning use propositions. Judgment com- 



THE INTELLECT. 79 

pares concepts and ideas ; reason compares propo- 
sitions or judgments. Another distinction between 
judging and reasoning is that the former is direct and 
immediate, and the latter indirect and mediate — ob- 
served facts and necessary truths being the media by 
which the reason reaches its conclusions. Reasoning 
is sometimes called mediate judging, or judging by 
inference. 

The question may be raised whether deductive rea- 
soning adds to man's knowledge, since the majof 
premise really includes the conclusion. It vaiueof 
is important to make a distinction between Deductive 
the fact that the major premise includes ^^^° ' ^' 
the conclusion and our prior knowledge of this fact. 
It is this very fact which the deduction (if real) dis- 
closes. When, for example, we see the thistle-down 
rising from the earth, we may not know that it is 
attracted toward the earth until we apply to it the 
general fact that all material bodies are thus attracted. 
Moreover, neither the person who frames a deductive 
argument, nor those to whom it is addressed, may 
have established the major premise by induction. 
This may be accepted as the induction of another 
mind, and, the reason being discerned, it may be 
confidently applied to objects beyond personal ob- 
servation, or used to explain observed phenomena. 
Man's knowledge is thus widened and increased. 

Attention has been called to the fact that in obser- 
vation the mind perceives and knows much more than 
the senses disclose (p. 48), and it may now Eye of 
be added that the eye of reason sees truth Reason, 
that lies far beyond the ken of sense. Observation 



8o ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

sees only the present phenomena of nature, but 
thought interprets observed phenomena and discerns 
nature's marvelous truths, forces, and laws. 

Scientific Thought. 

Reference has been made to the tendency of the 
mind to pass from the facts of judgment, limited to 
known objects, to universal facts. Conception takes 
the individual concepts of sense and experience, and 
forms general concepts, under which objects are clas- 
sified. Judgment discerns and affirms the common 
attributes of objects and the similarity or difference 
of concepts, thus furnishing facts, particular and 
general (limited). Reason interprets these facts of 
judgment, and by induction reaches universal facts 
that comprehend and explain them. When such a 
universal fact is reached and the included facts are 
arranged under it, the result is Science; i. e., knowl- 
edge reduced to system. It is thus seen that there 
may be as many sciences as there are universal facts 
under which the related knowledge may be classified 
and arranged. 

It is true that observation and the several thought 
powers have each what may properly be called a sci- 
scientific entific phasc of activity, possible only to 
and Common the dcvclopcd and trained intellect and 
°"^ ' will. In common observation the mind 
perceives only the more obvious qualities and relations 
of objects, and the resulting concepts are the basis 
of the facts of common knowledge. In its scientific 
phase, observation discriminates more keenly and per- 
ceives the less obvious, but often more important, 



THE IN TELL ECT. » I 

attributes of objects, and the resulting sharply defined 
concepts are the basis of scientific facts. The ele- 
mentary inductions of science differ from the inductions 
of common thought — of common sense, if this be 
clearer — chiefly in the degree of acuteness and energy 
of the reasoning power required. Scientific thought 
is characterized by closer observation, wider compari- 
son, and sharper analysis in conception, more accurate 
judging, and more careful induction, than common 
thought. 

It is, however, to be observed that these two phases 
of thought involve the same processes and the activity 
of the same mental powers.* This fact is made evi- 
dent, if we compare the mental processes involved in 
the concepts, facts, inductions, and classifications which 
make up a common knowledge of plants, with those 
involved in the scientific concepts, facts, inductions, 
and classifications included in the science of botany. 

It is also true that no clear distinction can be made 
between common knowledge and scientific knowledge. 
The one blends into the other. The more sharply de- 
fined facts relating to the earth's surface, to climate, day 
and night, etc., gained by common observation and 
thought, are the elements of the science of geography. 

But the elementary facts of science do not consti- 
tute science. What is further needed is that deeper 
insight of the reason which can discern 

. Science. 

those universal facts and principles that 
comprehend and explain all related knowledge, thus 
determining and making possible its orderly classifica- 
tion and systematic arrangement. 

*See Porter's " Human Intellect," ^ 435. 



82 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

But human reason does not stop with the general 

facts of induction that make science possible, but it 

„^.. , seeks to s^o back to those causative ener- 

Pnilosophy. _ *=■ 

gies and controUing laws that produce and 
explain all events and phenomena. When such a 
causative and controlling principle is discerned, the 
highest phase of scientific thought is reached, and the 
resuh \s philosophy, which Fichte properly calls "the 
science of science." The highest aim of philosophy, 
and consequently of human reason, is to discern the 
ultimate, self-determining principle of the universe. 
This aim Agassiz realized when he saw in science an 
"interpretation of the thoughts of the Creator;" and 
Kepler, when he devoutly exclaimed, "O God! I think 
thy thoughts after thee!" 



THE INTELLECT. 



83 



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84 ELEMENTS OF FED A GOGY. 



ACTIVITY AND GROWTH OF MENTAL POWERS* 

The foregoing analysis of intellectual processes shows 
that the presentative power awakens into activity 
Order of beforc the representative, and both of 
Activity. thesc powcrs before the rational or thought 
power. This order is a psychical necessity. It is im- 
possible for the mind to recall and represent an object 
not previously known, and it is equally impossible for 
the mind to form and apply general concepts of any 
kind if it be not in possession of individual concepts 
to compare and generalize. The mind's activity in 
both consciousness and sense-perception must precede 
memory, and memory must precede conception — the 
simplest form of thought activity. 

In like manner and for a like reason, the activity 
of the several powers included in the presentative. 
How representative, or thought powers, and the 
Conditioned, ^jgher phascs of activity of each included 
power, are conditioned ttpon the lower. Sense-percep- 
tion is conditioned upon sensation — the primary psy- 
chical act — and consciousness is conditioned upon both 
sensation and sense -perception. The perception of 
objects, psychical and physical, conditions the intuitive 
perception of their necessary relations, and, in turn, 
the intuitions condition the completed act of sense- 



*Tt is to be kept in iniiul that what is meant by power is the 
soul's capability to put forth a definite activity. It is not the power 
that acts, but the soul puts forth its power, and this is its action. 
The presentative power is the soul's capability to put forth present- 
ative acts. 



MENTAL ACTIVITY. 85 

perception. It is not meant that there is necessarily 
a conscious interval between these related presentative 
acts. Consciousness accompanies and blends with the 
acts and states which it perceives, and the intuitive 
acts blend with the acts of sense-perception and con- 
sciousness. 

The activity of the several representative powers is 
subject to the same condition. Memory is conditioned 
upon simple representation, and the imao;- , . . 

'^ , \ , , ^ Activity of 

ination is conditioned upon both simple Representa- 
representation and memory, since these '^^ owers. 
powers furnish the materials which the imagination 
modifies, or recombines into new wholes. The higher 
phases of activity of the imagination are in like man- 
ner conditioned upon the lower. It is not easy to 
determine which of the two modifying phases (p. 56), 
appears first, since they both appear very early in the 
child's life, as every nursery clearly shows ; but these 
phases condition the constructive phase, which appears 
a little later. The constructive imagination is active 
when a few lines drawn on board or paper enable the 
child to image a tree, a house, a bird, a person, etc., 
and especially when the accompanying of the picture 
with little stories, told in a lively manner, enables the 
child to put more in his mental image than the picture 
itself represents or suggests. This is the power that 
lends such a charm to illustrated nursery books. Still 
later the child acquires the power to construct or 
image objects and scenes described in language (first 
oral, and later written), thus forming notions of objects 
which it has not seen. Wise oral teaching constantly 
appeals to the constructive imagination, and the intel- 
ligent reading of books containing stories or other 



86 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

descriptions, calls for its lively exercise. It may be 
properly characterized as the school phase of the 
imagination. It is soon accompanied by the crea^ 
tive imagination which conceives and constructs new 
images. 

The same order is observed in the activity of the 
several thought powers. Conceptive generalization 

Thought precedes formal judging, and both concep. 

Powers. \\on and judging precede reasoning. In 
other words, reasoning is conditioned upon judging, 
and judging upon conception. 

The order in the activity of the several intellectual 
powers, above indicated, also prevails in their devel- 

orderof opmcnt. The presentative power reaches 
Development, -yvh^t may be Called its natural development 
before the representative power, and both of these 
before the thought power. The last of the represent- 
ative powers to reach an activity and energy equal to 
that of sense-perception is the creative imagination, 
and the last of the thought powers to reach a like 
development is reason, the power of deductive reason- 
ing appearing and developing later than inductive. 

There are considerable intervals between the periods 
in which the higher faculties reach a development equal 
to that of the lower,* but it is an error to infer that 
there are corresponding intervals between their awaken- 
ings to activity. The first conscious acts of perception 
(outer or inner) and memory accompany each other. 
The forming of general concepts and ideas is near 

*This degree of development may be more clearly expressed hy 
mature development or maturity, but these terms involve the idea 
of a cessation of growth and even decay. 



MENTAL ACTIVITY. 8/ 

the synthesis of the related sense-concepts. Formal 
judgment follows conception closely, and inductive 
reasoning appears only a little later. The two powers 
which awaken into activity latest, are the creative 
imagination and deductive reasoning. 

But how early do the several intellectual powers 
become active, and what is their relative activity and 
energy in the successive periods of the Eariy 
child's life? Or, stating these inquiries Activity. 
more accurately, hotv early does the soul p2it forth its sev- 
eral intclleetual activities, and what is the relative degree of 
these activities in the successive periods of the child's life ? 

The answers to these important questions can only 
be determined by the observation and study of chil- 
dren, and, fortunately, this is not a new 

' / -" Child Study. 

field of inquiry. No other beings have 
been so carefully and lovingly observed, and the re- 
corded results, covering centuries, present child life 
under many and diverse conditions. Most of these 
observations, however, are not characterized by sci- 
entific accuracy, and their records are too widely 
scattered in literature for easy comparison and study. 
They need to be supplemented by more accurate 
observations, and all to be interpreted by the best 
scientific methods. 

This scientific study of children has been greatly 
stimulated in later years by the writings of Comenius, 
Locke, Rousseau, Pestalozzi, Froebel, and other edu- 
cational reformers, and it is now receiving the earnest 
attention of progressive educators in this country and 
in Europe. The results of some of the more recent 
investigations are now accessible. 



05 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

The Study of these results shows that it is not an 

easy task to determine the psychical condition of a 

Child Study child, and especially of a class of children. 

Difficult. Such investigation is rendered difficult by 
the marvelous power of children to divine what is in 
the mind of the questioner, and the equally marvelous 
facility with which they catch and use words, with 
or without ideas. Their skill in attaching familiar but 
wrong ideas to new words often amounts to an appar- 
ent genius for blundering, but to infer from these 
word blunders that they are ignorant of the things 
involved, would not unfrequently be a mistake. 

It must also be admitted that there is no little dif- 
ficulty in applying the general conclusions, reached 
by a comparison of these results, to individual cases — 
a fact due to the marked difference in children of the 
same age, and often in the same family. One child 
may possess an energy of imagination at six years of 
age which a brother or a sister may not have at six- 
teen, and like striking contrasts are observed in the 
development of the several thought powers, especially 
of the reason. 

Notwithstanding the difficulties involved in child 

study, it is believed that the results now recorded 

, ^ , indicate with some clearness the psychical 

Interpreta- ^ ^ 

tion of activity of children at different ages, and 
especially when these results are interpreted 
in the light of general psychology. The direct bearing 
of these psychical facts on the principles and methods 
of school education not only justify, but require its 
clearest possible presentation. 

The accompanying diagram (p. 90), represents the 



MENTAL ACTIVITY. 89 

results of the author's study of this problem. It is de- 
signed to show the relative energy and activity (more 
especially the activity) of the several intellectual powers 
of the average child from birth to twenty years of age ; 
and it is unnecessary to add that, like all graphic de- 
vices, it represents the facts only approximately. 

The diagram shows that the presentative, represent- 
ative, and thought powers successively awaken to 
activity between birth and two to three order of 
years of age, and that the nine intellectual Activity. 
powers are all active at six years of age. The three 
presentative powers begin their activity so closely 
together (p. 85) that no attempt is made to indicate 
in the diagram their successive or separate activity 
and development. Their activity and growth concur 
and blend together. 

The diagram also shows that memory is active but 
little later than perception, and that imagination (mod- 
ifying phase) begins activity as early as two years of 
age, and conception but little later. The judgment 
or fact power appears as early as three, and inductive 
reasoning (chiefly from analogy) as early as five. No 
attempt is made to show the activity of the successive 
phases of the imagination, but it is believed that 
neither the creative imagination nor deductive reason- 
ing appears usually much earlier than seven or eight 
years of age. 

The diagram further shows that while there is a 
continuous development of the intellect as a whole, 
there is a marked difference in the relative Relative 
activity and energy of the several faculties Activity. 
at different ages. The perceptive powers are most 

W. p.— 8. 



90 



ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 



Activity of Mental Powers. 




Powers. 

I. Presentative. 
2 of. Representative 
3 3' z"' Thought. 



2. Memory. 
2'. Imagination 

(and Phantasy; 

3. Conception. 
3''. Judgment. 

7,'^. Reason. 



MENTAL ACTIVITY. 9 1 

active from birth to ten years of age, reaching their 
normal activity at eight to ten, while the representa- 
tive and thought powers, which are comparatively 
feeble at six, become the leading powers from fourteen 
to eighteen. It is not meant that the strength or 
energy of the perceptive power lessens after eight 
years of age, but that its activity becomes less and less, 
owing to the increasing time given to representative 
and thought activities. It is to be kept in mind that 
the diagram primarily represents the relative activity of 
the several intellectual powers. 

It will be observed that there is a marked difference 
in the relative activity of the thought powers at dif- 
ferent ages. The conceptive power is most Thought 
active from three to ten — the ivord learning Powers. 
period of child life. Judgment increases steadily in 
activity after its awakening, at about three years of 
age, and the reasoning power, whose activity is but 
a trace at six, becomes the leading thought power at 
sixteen. The power of inductive reasoning follows 
closely the ability to judge or reason by analogy, and 
later and increasingly the power of deductive reasoning 
is active. 

In their earlier thought activity, children form con- 
cepts and acquire facts which involve the more obvious 
qualities and relations of common objects — „ ^ , 

^ -' How Early 

the concepts and facts of child observation children 
and experience ; and they reach one by one 
the simpler inductions of common knowledge, chiefly 
at first the easy inductions of analogy. It is doubtless 
true that many of the first apparent inductions of 
children are formal judgments only, and as such are 



92 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

limited to known objects ; but it is an error to sup- 
pose that children do not truly reason before ten years 
of age. Locke held that children reason as early as 
they understand language, and he adds, "if I misob- 
serve not, they love to be treated as rational creatures 
sooner than is imagined." 

When a child asks for the why or reason of things 
that interest him, the reasoning power is active. A 
bright child makes many inductions before he is six 
years of age, and often acts upon them intelligently. 
Ask a bright lad, in his sixth year, why dogs can 
not fly, why children can slide on ice, why people 
wear thicker clothes in winter than in summer, why 
a stone will fall if dropped, and he will give reasons, 
though, perhaps, not scientific ones. 

It seems important to note in this connection that 
the development of the intellectual faculties is condi- 
tioned upon the corresponding development of the 
sensibility and the will. The activity of the mind in 
knowing depends, among other things, on the acute- 
ness and energy of the senses, the intensity of the 
emotions and desires, and the energy and constancy 
of the will. In childhood the development of all the 
psychical powers depends much on the growth of the 
Bodily body. Attention, which is primarily an 
Conditions. ^^^ ^f ^j^^ ^^jj|^ dcpcnds not only on interest 
excited by feeling, but also on the sustaining power 
of the body, and this, other conditions being favor- 
able, increases as children grow older. The young 
child can attend to any one object a much shorter time 
than an adult, and the same is true of the relative 
duration of all psychical activities. 



MENTAL ACTIVITY. 93 

It is not meant that the development and energy 
of the psychical powers are determined by or neces- 
sarily keep pace with the growth of the Mutual 
body. The growth of the mind may lag Dependence, 
far behind, or may greatly exceed that of the body. 
Primarily the development of all man's powers, phys- 
ical and psychical, depends on their normal and 
harmonious exercise. If the mind be not properly 
exercised with the bodily powers, its development will 
be comparatively slow and its energy feeble. On the 
other hand, while mere animal activity may secure the 
growth and health of the body, the skillful activity of 
the bodily powers depends on the supporting energy 
and activity of the psychical powers. The seeing of 
the eye, the hearing of the ear, and the deftness of 
the hand all depend on the energizing and directing 
activity of the intellect, the sensibility, and the will. 
There is a general law of interdependence and in- 
teraction that runs through all human powers and 
activities. 



PRINCIPLES OF TEACHING. 



(95) 



PRINCIPLES OF TEACHING. 



ENDS AND MEANS. 

The one comprehensive end of education is to pre- 
pare man to fulfill the purposes of human existenee ; 

i. e., TO LIVE COMPLETELY. These purposes Ends ot 

include the perfection of man's nature for Education, 
his highest well-being and happiness, and his prepara- 
tion for the right discharge of all the obligations and 
duties which spring from his relations to his fellows, 
to society, to the state, and to God. It is obvious 
that this comprehensive end is not met by training 
man to be an artisan, a merchant, a soldier, or even 
a citizen as such. The purposes of a complete life 
touch all the relations of man as man, and hence tax 
all his powers and activities. 

It follows that the means to this comprehensive end 
of education include (i) the development and training 
of all man's powers, psychical and physical; 
(2) the acquisition of knowledge needed for 
guidance, growth, and enjoyment; and (3) the acqui- 
sition of skill in the application of power and knowl- 
edge to the purposes of life. These three important 
means — power, knowledge, and skill — may be consid- 
ered the immediate ends of education. They include 
w. p.— 9. (97) 



98 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

(i) the developing and training of the powers of the 
intellect and the acquisition of knowledge, or intel- 
lectual education; (2) the developing and training of 
the higher sensibility and the will, or moral education; 
and (3) the development and training of the bodily 
powers, or physical edtieation. 

In practice these three kinds of education can not 
be wholly separated. Intellectual education is condi- 
tioned upon moral education and, to some extent, on 
physical ; and moral educat/on depends on the intellect 
for knowledge and insights and for some of its highest 
motives. In studying the principles of teaching there 
is, however, an advantage in giving attention succes- 
sively to these different kinds or phases of training, 
and, for this reason, we shall first study teaching as a 
means of intellectual educati^in 

The three immediate encs of education — power, 
knowledge, and skill — constitute the three ends of 

Ends of teaching, and since the acquiring of knowl- 

Teaching. edge is the means of increasing the power 

to acquire knowledge (p. 50), we may, for our present 

purpose, consider knoivledge the first end of teaching, 

poiver the second end, and skill the third. 

Knowledge as an end of teaching includes (i) orig- 

itial knowledge, or knowledge obtained directly by 

observation and thought; and (2) recorded 

Knowledge. fc> ' \ J 

knowledge, or knowlec^e expressed or re- 
corded in language, as in books ; also acquired by th^ 
learner's own activity (p. iii). 

Power is inherent or developed ability for action, 
intellectual, moral, and physical. The term is used 
in these pages in the active sense of capability for 



ENDS AND MEANS. 99 

self-activity, or for activity when called forth, and also 
in the more passive sense of capacity to receive or 
resist, but usually in the active sense of ca- 

•' _ Power. 

pability. When inherent power is changed 
in mode or direction of activity it is called acquired 
power. The power of the soul to know is called 
intellectual power. 

Intellectual power, as an end of teaching, includes 
(i) the power to acquire original knowledge; (2) the 
power to acquire recorded or expressed knowledge ; 
(3) the power to express knowledge in language, oral 
and written ; and (4) the power to apply or use knowl- 
edge, the last two including skill. 

Skill is power guided by knowledge and made ready 
and facile by practice. Skill is the art phase of power, 
and includes readiness and facility in action. 

•^ _ . Skill. 

The term power is used to denote ability 
when skill is either wanting or not prominent, and 
the term skill is applied to ability when skill is a 
prominent element ; and this distinction is believed to 
be sufficiently clear to justify the use of power and 
skill as separate terms.* It is of great practical im- 
portance in school education. 

Skill as a distinct end of teaching in elementary 
schools has more special reference to readiness and 
facility in tJic fiindamejital arts of reading, Fundamental 
writing, language (oral and written), mem- •^'■*^- 
bers, dt'awing, singing, health, and behavior. These arts 



N. B. For the meaning of education, teaching, instruction, training, 
learning, study, and method, see pp. 134-137, where they are defined 
in the clear light of previous study and with more special reference 
to methods. 



lOO ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

are not only fundamental in education, but also in 
practical life. Skill also has reference to readiness 
and facility in all mental processes, whether involving 
the senses, or the powers of memory, imagination, 
and thought. 

It is assumed in this study of teaching that it is an 
art, and as such has its underlying principles which 
Teaching determine its methods. There can be no 
an Art. ^^|.^ \^ ^]-,g ^j-^g sensc of the term, in the 
absence of guiding principles, and this is especially 
true of teaching. The human soul can not be un- 
folded and furnished by pattern The laws which gov- 
ern the activity and growth of its powers must guide 
in their training. The teacher must be an artist, and 
the teacher of a child the artist of artists. 



PRINCIPLES. 

We are now prepared to consider teaching in the 
light of the facts of psychology, previously stated. 
These facts clearly disclose the following fundamental 
principles — the most important that underlie and guide 
the teacher's art. 

Principle I, 

Teaching, both in matter and method, imist be adapted 
io the capability of the taught. 

This is a fundamental axiom of teaching, requiring 
neither proof nor elucidation. The most primary con- 
ception of education makes evident the truth that the 
what and the hoiv of teaching must be adapted to the 
capability of the pupil. This principle is fundamental, 



PRINCIPLES. lOI 

since all other principles are based upon it, and it will 
be seen that all others are in harmony with it. 

The application of this principle to school instruction 
raises two important psychical questions; to wit: 

1. Do the pupils in the schools present a varying 
capability as they pass up through successive grades? 

2. If so, in what respects does their capability vary, 
and to what is this variation due? 

The varying capability of pupils as they pass from 
the primary to the higher grades is an obvious fact — 
too obvious to require proof; and so we may pass at 
once to the consideration of the second question, the 
most important and fruitful question which pedagogy 
is called upon to answer. Let us first narrow the 
question to the variation in the intellectual capability 
of pupils. 

This varying capability of pupils in the successive 
grades must be due to one or more of three psychical 
facts; to wit: 

1. A variation in the activity and energy of the 
mind as a whole ; i. e., of all its powers. 

2. The absence or non-activity of certain powers of 
the mind in the younger pupils, and the successive 
awakening of these powers to activity as pupils grow 
older. 

3. A variation in the relative activity and energy of 
the several mental powers at different ages. 

The first of these supposed facts is the basis of the 
theory that primary pupils may be taught the same 
kinds of knowledge as the pupils in the ^. 

=> . First Theory. 

higher grades, and by essentially the same 

methods, the only radical difference between primary 



1 02 ELEMENTS OF FED A GOGV. 

and advanced instruction being in the amount of knowl- 
edge taught, the former covering daily less ground 
than the latter. Forty years ago, and even later, 
elementary text-books were constructed on this theory. 
The earlier elementary arithmetics began with formal 
definitions, and rules preceded the problems which 
were solved "according to rule." The primary geog- 
raphies began with the same definitions as the more 
advanced treatises, even including mathematical defini- 
tions, and otherwise covered substantially the same 
ground. The only essential difference between the 
elementary and the higher books in all branches was 
the fact that the former were thinner than the latter. 

The second of the above suppositions, in its more 
extreme interpretation, assumes that the mental pow- 
Second ers active in primary pupils are the present- 
Theory, ative, especially the power of observation; 
that later in school life the representative powers, in- 
cluding memory and imagination, become active ; and 
still later the thought powers, generalization and rea- 
soning. It cuts school life into three distinct psychical 
stages or periods, presentative, representative, and 
thought, and is the basis of the theory that a course 
of school instruction may be cut horizontally into three 
distinct sections or periods, the lower including sense 
or perceptive knowledge, the intermediate reproductive 
knowledge, and the higher or advanced generalized and 
rational knowledge. These three periods of school 
instruction have been respectively designated as per- 
ceptive, conceptive, and rational ; also as objective, 
reproductive, and elaborative. 

The third supposition assumes that all the intellect- 
ual powers are active when the child enters school at 



PRINCIPLES. 103 

six years of age, and that his intellectual condition as 
he advances in the course is characterized by changes 
in the relative activity of the several pow- 

^, . . , , , Third Theory. 

ers. ihis view supports the theory that 
both the matter and the method of school instruction 
should correspondingly change from year to year, — 
the successive phases of instruction being characterized 
by the relative attention given to the different kinds oi 
knowledge, but, more especially, by tJie method in which 
such htowledge is taJigJit. 

Which of these suppositions is true ? 

This question has been fully answered in the pre- 
ceding discussion of the activity and growth of the 
mental powers (p. 84). It is there shown 

^ ^^ ^' True Theory. 

that the nine intellectual powers are all act- 
ive (though not equally so) at six years of age ; that 
the child's intellectual condition the first years of 
school life is characterized by the activity of sense- 
perception or observation, constructive imagination, 
and conceptive generalization (word power), sense- 
perception being the leading activity; that later the 
imagination, judgment (fact power), and inductive 
reasoning become more active, and characterize intel- 
lectual activity; and that the next or higher phase of 
development is characterized by the activity of the 
creative imagination, and the reason, inductive and 
deductive. There is a marked change in the relative 
activity of the three thought powers, conception, judg- 
ment, and reason, the first being the leading thought 
activity at six and the last at sixteen. 

In these changes in the relative activity of the dif- 
ferent powers, there are no awakenings of new powers 



1 04 EL EMENTS OF FED A GOGY. 

and no sudden transitions. The presentative powers 
are at first the most active, but the thought powers 
increase in activity and energy from year to year until 
they become the leading powers of the intellect. It is 
true that there is a steady increase in the activity and 
energy of the mind as a whole, but the characteristic 
feature of its development is the variation in the relative 
activity of the several intellectual poivers. 

We are now prepared to state and con.sider a second 
principle of teaching. 

Principle II. 

There is a natural order in wJiich the poivc-s of the 
mind shoidd be exercised, and the corresponding k^.^ds of 
knozuledge taught. 

The natural order in which the mental powers should 
be exercised is the same as the order of their activity' ; 
to wit : first, the presentative ; second, the represent- 
ative; and, third, the thought power. The natural 
order of exercising the thought powers is, first, con- 
ception; second, judgment (formal); and, third, reason, 
first induction and later deduction. This is not only 
the natural but the necessary order of intellectual 
activity in childhood (p, 84). The natural movement 
of the mind in the earlier processes of knowing is from 
perception through representation to conception, and 
from conception through judgment to reason — that is, 
from sense activity to reasoning through the activity of 
the intermediate powers. 

This principle has been specialized in the form of 
Elementary vtaxims of elementary teaching, including 

Maxims. ^hc followiug : 



PRINCIPLES. 105 

1. Observatio7i before reasoning. 

2. TJie concrete before the abstract: sense knowledge 
before thought knowledge. 

3 . Facts before definitions or principles. 

4. Processes before rules. 

5 . From the particular to the general. 

6. From the simple to the complex. 

7. From the knozvji to the related unknoivn. 

These maxims relate to that phase of the process 
of knowing in which the mind is acquiring primary 
concepts and ideas, elementary facts, and ... . 

^ ^ _ Limitations. 

simple inductions, as a preparation for the 
acquisition of higher or scientific knowledge. They 
are maxims of elcnumtary teaching, and not universal 
principles. The maxim, "Processes before rules," is, 
for example, an important precept in the teaching of 
elementary arithmetic, but no wise teacher would uni- 
formly or generally follow it in teaching the higher 
mathematics, and it has its exceptions in teaching the 
higher applications of arithmetic. The same limitation 
specially applies to the maxims, "The concrete before 
the abstract," and "From the particular to the gen- 
eral." In the higher phases of instruction the true 
order is often from the abstract to the concrete, and 
from the general to the particular, this being always 
true in deductive processes (p. 75). 

It is, however, to be observed that this inverse order 
is only possible when the mind is in possession of 
those primary concepts, ideas, and facts which are 
essential to the apprehension of the abstract and the 
general, and hence the above maxims are true direc- 
tions for the teaching of the elements of all branches 
of knowledge, especially of all inductive branches; 



1 06 ELEMENTS OF FED A GOCY. 

but they have more special application to elementary 
schools. They are the criteria which differentiate an 
elementary method of teaching from a general method. 

The observing of this natural order in school train- 
ing does not imply that there should be long or even 
distinct intervals between observation and 

Intervals. 

reasoning, or between any lower activity 
and the related higher. The successive steps b}^ which 
objective, concrete, and abstract or general knowledge 
are acquired, may be taken the same school term and 
even in the same lesson. The principle does, however, 
imply that the several mental powers are best developed 
and trained by observing their natural and Jiarino7iions 
activity. The child must observe as a child, must 
think as a child, must reason as a child i)i Ins psyeJdcal 
condition, and the fact is to be kept in mind that a 
child acquires even primary knowledge very slowly. 
Any attempt to force the young mind to do what it 
has not the energy or the preparation to do, is to 
Aveaken it. There is, however, danger of falling into 
an opposite error, and limiting the mind to one kind 
of activity when it is prepared and has a natural im- 
pulse for a higher activity. Children may be kept 
swinging on the gate of sense when they are fully 
prepared to make easy and fruitful excursions into the 
earden of thought. 



It follows from the above principles that tJiere sJioidd 

be a variation in the relative attention given to the several 

mental powers, and the corresponding kinds 

Corollary. ^ \ . 

of knowledge in the siiccessive years of school 
training. In the first four years of school the pre- 



PRINCIPLES. 107 

sentative powers, being naturally most active, should 
receive most attention ; in the next four years atten- 
tion should be more equally divided between the 
presentative, representative, and thought powers ; and 
in succeeding years more attention should be given 
to the thought powers, and especially to the reason. 
The same variation should be observed in the attention 
devoted to the teaching of the corresponding kinds of 
knowledge — sense and concrete knowledge receiving 
most (but not exclusive) attention in the primary 
grades of school, and rational knowledge in the higher 
grades. It is thus seen that the variation in the rel- 
ative activity of the mental powers occasions phases 
of development which are severally characterized by 
leading activities of the mind and the acquisition of 
corresponding kinds of knowledge. 

Principle III. 

A tnte course of instnicticv for elementary schools cuts 
off a section of presentative, representative, and tJwiigJit 
knowledge each year. 

This principle is an obvious consequence of those 
already considered, and is equally supported by the 
facts of psychology. 

Universal observation shows that children at six 
years of age have not only acquired much presenta- 
tive knowledge, but are in possession of a considerable 
number of general concepts and facts, and, by the 
natural activity of their minds, are passing increasingly 
from sense knowledge to thought knowledge, and from 
the particular facts of observation to general judg- 
ments, and, to a limited but increasing extent, to the 



1 08 EL EM EN TS OF FED A GOGY. 

general truths of reason, it is, however, to be remem- 
bered that the higher thought processes have compar- 
atively a small place in the intellectual activity of a 
child. The young mind acquires several, often many, 
sense -concepts before it forms a general concept, and 
it must often acquire many individual facts before it 
can reach a general fact, even one of judgment. 

It follows from these statements that while primary 
instruction should give its chief attention to present- 
Primary ative knowledge, the concepts and facts of 
Course. observation and experience, it should also 
increasingly teach the more obvious generalizations of 
these, facts and their expression in language. The 
first year's instruction in reading should, for example, 
exercise not only the observing powers, but also 
memory, imagination (modifying and constructive), 
conception, and judgment, and sparingly inductive 
reasoning. The reading lessons of the first school 
year abound in words expressing general concepts and 
ideas, and the little sentences therein express facts 
which relate to the feelings, actions, and duties of 
children and adults, the characteristic actions of domes- 
tic animals, the more obvious qualities and relations 
of common objects, including their class relations, and 
other common phenomena. These facts are both par- 
ticular and general, as a glance at any primer or first 
reader will show. 

It is thus seen that the general knowledge first 

taught in school should consist of common concepts. 

Changes in commou facts, and common inductions; 

Course. / ^^ |-}^g conccpts, facts, and inductions 
which involve the more obvious qualities and relations 



PRINCIPLES. 109 

of common objects and events, and thus are within 
the capacity and experience of primary pupils. As 
pupils grow older they slowly but increasingly acquire 
that power of observation, analysis, and generalization 
necessary to form scientific concepts, and, as early as 
the fifth school year, they are prepared to learn the 
simpler elements of scientific knowledge (p. 80), Four 
years later they should be prepared to give attention 
to still higher forms of scientific thought, thus enter- 
ing the so-called scientific phase of mental activity. 
If the first four years of a school course be called 
primary, the second four years intermediate, and the 
next four years higher or high-school, (i) the primary 
period would be characterized by the activity of the 
mind in observing, imaging, generalizing, and judging, 
and the consequent acquisition of the elements of 
common knowledge; (2) the intermediate period, by 
increasing activity of the thought powers and the 
acquisition of higher common knowledge, and the 
simpler elements of science; and (3) the high-school 
period, by more sharply analytic and discriminating 
scientific thought. These three periods might be 
characterized respectively as soisc-conccptivc, transi- 
tional, and scientific, but even these terms may seem 
to imply sharp ^transitions in instruction, and thus be 
misleading. 

There is no psychical warrant for the assumption 
that primary instruction should be confined to pre- 
sentative activity and knowledge, and all Erroneous 
general and scientific knowledge postponed Assumption. 
to the high school. If in the development of the 
mind there be a period of exclusive sense activity, it 



I lO ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

antedates the primary school, lying very near the 
cradle, certainly not above the lower kindergarten, if 
above the nursery. If the term science be used in the 
high sense of philosophy (p. 82), the scientific period 
of education falls largely in the college and the univer- 
sity. The long interval between these two extremes 
is the period of school education, now under consid- 
eration, and throughout this transitional period the 
mind is increasingly passing from sense-knowledge to 
thought- knowledge. 

Nor is it possible to make a clean distinction between 

the periods of elementary knowledge and scientific 

knowledge, and arrange a course of instruc- 

Elementary c ' ° 

and Scientific tion on this basis. It is not only true that 

Kno\A'ledge. . • i i j , i • i 

perceptive knowledge must have a consid- 
erable place in all grades of school instruction, but 
scientific knowledge must necessarily appear early in 
the intermediate course. It is not possible to draw 
a line through any branch of knowledge, as developed 
by the race or the individual, and say here elementary 
knowledge ends and science begins. Every branch 
of science includes not only primary concepts and 
ideas, its simple elements, but also those general facts 
of judgment and induction which are the basis of its 
higher generalizations, and it is neither possible nor 
wise to hold the mind back from these simple general- 
izations until the so-called scientific period is reached. 

In that educational classic, "The True Order of 

Studies," Dr. Thomas Hill compares a true course of 

Dr. Hill's study to a spiral stairway, surrounding the 

niustration. fjy^^^ great columns of human knowledge, 

and cutting off a section of each at every round of 



PRINCIPLES. 1 1 I 

its ascent. This famous simile clearly recognizes the 
important fact that there is a natural sequence of 
knowledge to be observed in teaching, and, rightly- 
understood, it also indicates that this sequence is lat- 
eral as well as vertical. A true course of study not 
only cuts off a. section of all the great branches of 
knowledge each year, but each section includes pre- 
sentative, representative, and thought knowledge and 
activity. In its progress through each annual cycle 
of its ascent school instruction passes from sense- 
knowledge to thought- knowledge — the natural move- 
ment of the mind in all stages of its activity being 
from sense to reason. 

The diagram on page 1 1 2 indicates the relative at- 
tention to be given the different kinds of 

. Diagram. 

knowledge m the successive years of school 
instruction, and also in the primary, intermediate, and 
high-school periods, or grades. 

Principle IV. 

Kiwivlcdge can he taught only by occasioning the apprO' 
pj'iate activity of the learner s mind. 

This principle is based on the fact that knowledge 
is the product of the mind's action. Knowing is an 
act or series of acts ; knowledge the result. The mind 
acquires knowledge only by its ozun activity. It acquires 
sense-knowledge by sense activity, and thought-knowl- 
edge by thought activity. 

The mind is not only active in knowing, but it is 
self-active. It acquires knowledge only by putting 
forth an inner energy. It is not a vessel that can be 
filled from without, or a sponge that can be filled by 



112 



ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY, 



Course of Instruction. 




KNOWLEDGE. 

I. Presentative. 
1 i' . Representative 
3 ? 3^^. Thought. 



PRINCIPLES. 1 1 3 

mechanical absorption. It is an energy that furnishes 
itself by its own activity. 

It follows from these facts that knowledge can be 
taught only by occasioning the appropriate activity of 
the learner's rnind. It can not be transferred from 
the teacher's mind to the pupil's by words. It can 
not be communicated to the pupil in any way if his 
mind be passive. The essential act in acquiring knowl- 
edge is the act of learning, and this is the pupil's act. 
The teacher may present objects of knowledge to the 
pupil's mind, may solicit his interest, invite his atten- 
tion, and direct his powers, but if his mind does not 
respond to these teaching acts, there will be no learn- 
ing, no acquiring of knowledge. From the beginning 
to the end of teaching runs, as an essential condition, 
the learner's activity, and hence that teaching is most 
effective that occasions or secures the best mental 
action on the part of the pupil. This leads to^ 

Principle V. 

K- J- ^ ' . . • '" 

TJie primal y £j»i€-€pts -emd ideas in eveiy branch of 

knowledge must be taught objectiifely in all grades of 

school. 

The psychical processes involved in sense-perception 
and other presentative acts show that the forming of an 
individual concept requires the presence of the object, 
and, since general concepts are formed from individual 
concepts, it follows that no concept, individual or 
general, can be taught without presenting the appropriate 
object or objects to the viind. The same is true in the 
teaching of ideas, both particular and general. 

The teaching of general concepts when the individual 

W. p.— lO. 



114 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

concepts to be generalized are already in the mind, 
may seem to be an exception to this principle, but 
the exception is apparent, not real, since the principle 
Apparent ^s Stated is limited to primary concepts and 
Exception, jdeas. The primary concepts in this case 
are the individual concepts, which are generalized, and 
these were acquired objectively, — by the direct per- 
ception of the objects, whether material or psychical, 
objective or subjective. When the mind is in posses- 
sion of primary concepts and ideas, it can generalize 
them, forming a general concept or idea, or by imag- 
ination it can modify them or construct from them a 
new product. The concept river may thus be derived 
from the concept brook or creek ; the concept 
mountain, from the like concept hill, etc. Compound 
concepts may be formed by the synthesis of simple 
concepts. But the fact remains that primary concepts 
and ideas, tJie elonoits of all knowledge, can only be 
taught or acquired by the presence of the objects.* 



"••■"The fact that primary concepts are acquired objectively, is illus- 
trated by the late examinations into the "contents" of young 
children's minds, notably those conducted in Boston by Dr. G. 
Stanley Hall [Frinceion Review, May, 1S83), and by Supt. J. M. 
Greenwood in Kansas City, Mo. {^Froceedings A\iiional Educatiotial 
Association, 1884). In comparing the results of tnese two "studies" 
of children, allowance must be made for the difference in the ages 
of the children, those in Kansas City being about a year older than 
those in Boston (a great difference), and having had nearly a year's 
s -hooling; and also for the probable difference in the tests, especially 
the language used. The most significant fact that remains is that the 
difference '.n the knowledge of the two classes of children is chiefly 
due to a difference of observation and experience. The Boston children 
were ignorant of "crow," "ant," "squirrel," "robin," "sheep," 
"bee," "frog," and other like objects, because they had not seen them, 
and the Kansas City children, especially the negro children, were 
not ignorant of these objects because they had seen them. 



PRINCIPLES. 1 1 5 

It follows from the above principle that no primary 
co7icept or idea can be taught tJiroiigh its zvord. Every 
concept or idea is the product of the mind's concepts 
own action. A word may occasion the re- ^"'^ Words, 
call of a known concept or idea associated with it, but 
a word can not summon a 7iczv concept or idea into 
what has been called "the presence chamber of the 
soul." The futile attempt to teach concepts and ideas 
through words is responsible for more unsatisfactory 
results than any other error of elementary instruction. 
Carlyle characterizes his teachers as "hide-bound ped- 
ants" who crammed him "with innumerable dead 
vocables, and called it fostering the growth of the 
mind." Carlyle's pedants once represented a very 
large class of teachers, and it is feared that this race 
of word-cramming pedants is not yet extinct. 

The maxim, "Ideas before Avords, " may not be a 
necessary principle, even of primary instruction, but it 
is excellent advice. The essential thing is 

'-' Maxim. 

to teach both the idea and its sign, and 
especially to connect them indissolubly together, and, 
to make this connection sure, it is wise to teach the idea 
before the word, whenever this can be done. The 
facility with which children learn words, especially as 
sounds, is constantly giving them new words which to 
them have no meaning. It is the teacher's imperative 
duty to see that these empty words are filled with 
their ideas, and especially that all new words, learned 
and used in school, are associated with clear ideas. To 
this end, not only all primary concepts, but all con- 
cepts that involve primary concepts which are dim or 
blurred, sb.ould be taught objectively. 



1 16 ELEMENTS OF FED AGOG V. 

It is true that a general word may at first represent 
an individual concept. A child sees a strange animal, 
a monkey for example, and learns its name. The 
word is associated with the individual monkey seen, 
and recalls it in memory. When, however, the child 
has seen several monkeys, the resulting individual 
concepts are unconsciously generalized, and the word 
monkey comes to represent all the like objects seen, 
if not the class. It is believed that children learn 
most of their words in this way, learning and using 
the word before they form the general concept. The 
words father, mother, brother, sister, baby, kitty, etc., 
are at first names of individual objects. It is also true 
that children frequently use proper or individual names 
to denote classes of objects. A little child that has 
seen "Jumbo" calls every elephant which he sees 
"Jumbo." 

This principle of objective teaching applies to all 
grades of schools — ^to the high school and college as 

Obective ^^^^ ^^ ^° ^^^ primary school. It is in- 
Teaching of creasingly recognized in the teaching of the 
physical sciences. No school of science, 
worthy of its name, now puts its students to the study 
of text-books in botany or chemistry, or other natural 
or physical science, before they have acquired its pri- 
mary concepts and facts by the study of objects and 
phenomena. This is the meaning of the modern lab- 
oratory and museum. They afford needed facilities 
for the study of things as a preparation for the study 
of books which embody the results of wider observa- 
tion and research. When the concepts and ideas 
which scientific words represent, are thus objectively 



PRINCIPLES. WJ 

learned, books become important means of acquiring 
scientific knowledge, but, in acquiring the elements 
of knowledge, books can not take the place of things 



It follows from principles IV and V that knoivledge 
can be presented to the mind by means of language only 
wJien the ivords used represent known co>i- _ 

■' Communica- 

cepts and ideas. The sentence, ' ' There is tion of 

1 • )) , 1 ,• Knowledge. 

an eagle m my purse, presents no relation 
or fact to the mind, if the words "eagle " and "purse " 
do not express known objects. When all its words 
represent known concepts and ideas, the sentence 
presents a fact to the mind in such a way as to occa- 
sion thinking, and the fact is thus known.* This is 
what is meant by the eonimwueation of knoivledge. The 
words recall known concepts and ideas, the relation 
between the objects of knowledge thus presented is 



■•■■ It seems to the writer a mere word quibble to deny that a fact 
thus presented and apprehended is known. To know an object is 
to be certain tliat it is, and the mind may be as certain of a rela^ 
tion thus apprehended as it is of phenomena perceived by the senses. 
The fact expressed in the sentence, " A piece of iron is heavier than 
a piece of pine wood of the same size " may be as certainly appre- 
hended, when stated, as it would be were the fact objectively pre- 
sented to the mind. 

Nor is it true that while the mind knows the expressed relation, 
it does not know it to be real. The relation between known objects 
may be a necessity of thought or of nature, and, even when this is 
not true, its reality may be accepted by the mind as certai7i. The 
fact that six apples are more than three apples may be known as 
certainly when presented by words expressing known concepts as 
when presented objectively. It is not claimed that relations pre- 
sented to the mind by language are always real or are always known 
to be real. Much of what is called knowledge is only probable 
truth — information the certainty of which is not fully accepted or 
known. 



Il8 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

apprehended or thought, and this completes the com- 
munication of the knowledge to the learner's mind. 
In this process neither the act of knowing nor its prod- 
uct is transferred ; they are occaswiwd, and, as a result, 
the knowledge of one mind is reproduced by and in 
another mind, and it is thus communicated or known 
in common. Knowledge presented to the -mind by 
language and thus known is called acquired knowledge, 
to distinguish it from original knowledge. When 
Acquired knowledge that is original to one mind is 
Knowledge, commuuicatcd to another mind, it becomes 
to such mind acquired knowledge. 

It may be added that only a small part of the 
knowledge which every intelligent person uses for guid- 
ance, growth, and enjoyment, is original except in its 
primary elements. We are largely indebted to the 
experience and thought of others, and these are made 
known to us by means of language. The function of 
language is not merely to recall knowledge to the 
mind that has discerned it, but to communicate it to 
other minds — a function illustrated in every nursery 
where children try to tell what they feel and know. 
Speech is one of man's highest and best endowments. 

It follows that it is an important end of school 

education to train the pupil to apprehend thought 

study of expressed in language — to read intelligently 

Books. |-j-,(. printed page. Books contain the re- 
corded knowledge of the race, and it is only by reading 
books that man can come into possession of this rich 
inheritance. The ability to read is the key that un- 
locks the treasuries of human knowledge. It is thus 
seen that there is an important place in school training 



PRINCIPLES. 119 

for the study of books. The proper union of oral 
teaching and book study in school education is a 
problem of the highest practical importance (p. 152). 

Principle VI. 

The several pozvers of the Diind are dez'eloped and 
trained by oceasioning their natural and Jiarmonioiis 
activity. 

This principle is based on the fact that every nor- 
mal act of the mind leaves as a result an increased 
power to act in like manner, and a tendency to act 
again — poiver and tendency being the results of all right 
mental action (p. 31). The power and tendency of 
the mind to observe are increased by observing ; to 
imagine by imagining; to judge, by judging; to rea- 
son, by reasoning, etc. An increase of the mind's 
power and tendency to put forth a given activity is 
what is meant by its development and training. 

It follows that the power of the mind to put forth 
any kind of activity is developed and trained by occa- 
sioning such activity. The power to acquire sense 
knowledge is developed by acquiring sense knowledge ; 
the power to memorize language, by memorizing lan- 
guage ; the power to think in any form, by such 
thinking. For this reason, the study of any branch 
of physical science increases one's power to master 
any other physical science ; the study of any language, 
one's power to master any other language, etc. This 
fact also explains why the study of a branch of 
knowledge that trains several powers of the mind, 
may increase its capacity to master other branches 
that appeal to these powers. The critical study of 



1 20 ELEMEN7 'S OF FED A GOGY 

language, for example, calls into exercise mental pow- 
ers that are much used even in the mastery of botany, 
zoology, and other natural sciences.* 

It is claimed that an increase of the mind's power 
to acquire one kind of knowledge increases its power 
to acquire all knowledge. This may be true, to some 
extent, but the exclusive activity of the mind in one 
direction may so increase its tendency thus to act as 
practically to incapacitate it to act in other directions, 
the tendency becoming a habit. 

The above facts show that a course of elementary 

training should include all the departments of ele- 

Eiementary mcutary kuowlcdgc, in order to give the 

Course. mind a harmonious development, thus pre- 
paring it to acquire all kinds of knowledge, and also 
to resist the narrowing and grooving tendency of 
future occupations. A course of school training should 
at least include the elements of physical science, 
language, mathematics, history (man), and art. 

In all this training, it must be kept in mind that 

the teacher can only occasion and direct the pupil's 

Pupil's activity. The human soul is not a machine 

Activity. |-j-,^|. ^,^j^ |3g py|. jj^|.Q action by turning a 

crank. Its activity is the result of a self-exerted 
energy (p. 1 1 1). Even nature can not necessitate the 
mind's actioif. She stands over against the soul, pre- 



*The late Dr. C. O. Thompson, of the Rose Polytechnic Institute, 
Indiana, gave it as the result of his long experience as a teacher 
in polytechnic schools, that students who have been thoroughly 
trained in Latin master the sciences and technical studies more 
readily than students who have not had such training. — Froceedings 
of Council oj Education, 1884, p. 41, 



PRINCIPLES. 121 

senting objects adapted to the activity of its powers, 
inviting its attention, and rewarding its action, but the 
soul attends to these various objects at will, directs 
its activities, and rejoices in its acquisitions. It must 
not, however, be inferred that nature does not play 
an important part in securing the activity and devel- 
opment of the mind. The occasion of an act conditons 
its existence, even though it may not necessitate it. 

Nor is it to be inferred from these facts that the 
child is capable of teaching himself, only needing an 
opportunity for his self-activity to manifest seif- 

itself. Under self- teaching and nature's teaching, 
teaching man remains a savage. Both the family and 
the school assume that the child needs something 
more than the self- impulsion and guidance of instinct, 
nature, and experience, in mental activity and conduct; 
and so each provides him with the assistance of wider 
experience and knowledge, and the help of personal 
influence and control. ■ The school recognizes the fact 
that the child does not learn to think by mere thinking, 
but that he learns to think correctly by thinking iindet 
guidance. It neither assumes that teaching can take 
the place of learning, nor that the best learning will 
take place without teaching. The school joins teach- 
ing and learning together as correlates, the one as the 
occasion and the other as the cause of the desired 
results — mental power and knowledge. Nor are these 
assumptions of the school inconsistent with the fact 
that the powers of the mind are developed and trained 
by activity, this activity being self-exerted. This 
statement leaves a place and function for teaching, 
while the statement that we learn to do by doing 
excludes the ''^'"^ of teaching. 

W. p.— II. 



122 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

The question is sometimes raised whether knowl- 
edge or mental power should be made the leading aim 
Application of of teaching effort. It is not easy to see 
Principle. \\o\\ tliese two results can well be put in 
contrast, if power be limited to the capacity to acquire 
knowledge, since the power to know can only be de- 
veloped by knowing. In all training of the mind in 
acquiring knowledge, the result is knowledge, as well 
as increased power. This raises the suspicion that 
those who pride themselves on the training side of 
their teaching and yet have indefinite knowledge as a 
result, may be deceived. Effective training in acquir- 
ing knowledge of any kind must give clear knowledge 
as a result. 

A satisfactory answer to the above question requires 
that a distinction be made between the training of the 
mind in mental processes, zuhcre skill is an end, and 
the training of the mind in the acquisition of knowl- 
edge. A pupil may, for exaipplc, acquire increased 
skill in analytic reasoning by repeating the solution of 
an arithmetical problem several times, though the 
several repetitions give him no new knowledge. It is 
clear that in such a drill the value of the repetitions 
lessens as the effort involved decreases, and this fact 
suggests that there is such a thing as ovcrdrill in 
teaching (p. 145). The chief value of the mental drill * 
as such is in the acquiring of those processes which 
need to be made automatic, as is true of elementary 
processes in number, language, etc., and the fixing 
of fudamental results in memory, as the sums and 
products of the digital numbers, two and two. It 
should be kept in mind in teaching that the power to 
observe is best trained by observing new phenomena; 



PRINCIPLES. 1 23 

i. e., new to the observer; the power to imagine by- 
constructing or creating new images ; the power to 
judge by discerning new relations ; and the power to 
reason by newly reaching, proving, or applying truth. 
When the knowledge is clear and the process certain, 
repetition is futile if not harmful. 

But the question above raised is broader and deeper 
than the answers thus indicated. It touches the com- 
parative value of knowledge and mental ^ j 
power as abiding results of school tj'aining in Power chief 
practical life ; and from this stand-point it '"^ 

is clear that the developing of power should be made 
the leading aim of teaching. Knowledge is necessary 
to enlighten and guide in all human effort, but mental 
power gives acumen, grasp, strength, poise, inspiration, 
and these are the winners of success in all the duties 
of practical life. Even so-called practical knowledge, 
to be of highest utility for guidance, must be thought 
out and applied by an intelligent mind. If my mind 
were a tablet, and with a sponge I should erase every 
fact learned in school and college, and not directly 
applied in the arts there acquired, I should not be 
very poor, but were I to lose the mental power gained 
by the mastery of these facts, so many of which were 
long since forgotten, I should be poor indeed. 

This broader view of education shows that mental 
power is not only the most abiding, but the most 
practical result of school training. It jus- Act and 
tifies the statement that in teaching the act Acquisition. 
of acquiring knowledge is more important than the 
knowledge acquired. It was a clear apprehension of 
this principle that caused the learned Lessing to choose 



124 



ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 



the search for truth rather than its possession, ana this 
is the deep meaning of the remarkable saying of 
Malebranche : " If truth were a bird and I held it cap- 
tive, I would open my hand and let it fly away that 
I might again pursue and capture it."* 

This important principle is embodied in the follow- 
ing maxim of elementary teaching: 

Whatever knoivleelge is taught a child should be so 
taught that the act of acquiring it shall be of greater 
value than the knowledge itself. 

Principle VII. 

In the teaching of any school art, clear a7id correct 
ideals should inspire and guide practice. 

The first step in learning any art is the forming of 
ideals of the results to be attained, and, as a rule, 
the clearer and more correct the ideals formed, the 
better w^ill be the results reached by practice. This 
is not only true in the practice of such simple arts as 
the pitching of a quoit or ball, the drawing of a plain 
figure, etc., but also in the higher arts of oratory, 
music, painting, sculpture, architecture, etc. In all 
art, ideals inspire effort and largely determine move- 
ment and process ; and, since the imagination is de- 
pendent upon observation and experience for the ma- 
terials with which it constructs its ideals, the wider 
the learner's observation of the work and productions 
of skillful artists, and the greater his own experience 
and skill, the better will be his guiding ideals, and the 
more fruitful his practice. 

* Quoted from memory. 



PRINCIPLES. 125 

It follows that the first step in teaching any art is 
to lead the pupil to form correct ideals of zvhat he is 
to do or produce, and, to this end, he should 

-^ Ideals. 

be presented with the best models and ex- 
amples — as far as practicable with the "works of the 
masters." This is not only true in teaching the form- 
ative arts, as drawing, painting, sculpture, and the 
mechanic arts generally, but also in teaching oratory, 
music, and literature. Jenny Lind gave to her gen- 
eration a new ideal of human song, and that ideal 
has awakened in many human voices an almost divine 
melody, Wendell Phillips and John B. Gough have 
respectively given to hundreds of American speakers 
their inspiring ideals of oratory. 

The next step in teaching any art is to give the 
pupil a knotvledgc of the processes by which his ideals 
can best be embodied. It is true that this Guiding 
knowledge may be slowly gained by tenta- Knowledge, 
tive practice, but since it is not an end but a means 
of practice, the earlier it is acquired the sooner will 
the pupil master art processes. It is true that this 
guiding knowledge can not be acquired much in ad- 
vance of practice, since practice not only applies but 
indirectly interprets and makes clearer the knowledge 
that guides it. 

These facts expose the fallacy that often underlies 
the attempt to teach knowledge by the act of embody- 
ing it in material forms. It is claimed, for example, 
that a child acquires an idea of a triangle, a square, 
etc., by cutting pieces of paper or by sawing boards 
into such forms, whereas the child must have ideas 
of these forms before he can make them, except by 
pattern. The ideal must j^recede and guide the proc- 



126 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

ess. The same is true of the educativ^e value of the 
school process of molding the contours and reliefs of 
countries in sand. A knowledge of the contour and 
relief must precede and guide the moulding, and even 
then the child may obtain a very imperfect conception 
of the surface of the country thus represented. The 
mind must be assisted and trained in the interpreta- 
tion of these forms. The artisans who devote their 
time to the making of relief globes and maps by pat- 
tern, acquire thus little knowledge of geography. 

But the processes of every art are based on princi- 
ples, and these, when formulated, become its rules, 
. . and hence a complete knowledge of an art 

Principles. ^ _ ^ _ 

includes a knowledge of its guiding prin- 
ciples. These principles are of little, if any, value to 
the young learner, and hence should not be taught 
too early, and, when taught, they should be first 
reached, one by one, by an analysis of familiar proc- 
esses and by the study of the productions that embody 
them — that is, they should be taught objectively. In 
the later and higher practice of an art, a knowledge 
of its guiding principles is of great value, and these 
may finally take the place of the living teacher. It 
may be added that the principles and rules of an art 
are most helpful in practice when they are so familiar 
to the artist as to be observed without being con- 
sciously kept in mind. It is only when ideals and 
principles become unconscious guides that true art 
appears. 

This principle explains the interaction of mind and 
hand in manual processes, and shows how the hand 
assists the mind that fjuides it. The movements of 



PRINCIPLES. 1 27 

the hand have a reflex influence on the mind, provided 
the mind attends to and gtndes the Jiand. When the 
action of the hand or any other part or Mind and 
organ of the body is involuntary and auto- Hand, 
matic, it has httle, if any, influence on the mind. It 
is only when it controls and acts with the body, that 
the mind is developed and trained. The educative in- 
fluence does not flow primarily from the hand to the 
brain, but from the mind to the brain, and from the 
brain to the hand, and it is only by reflex action that 
the mind is assisted. This fact throws much light on 
the historic fact that mere physical labor has never 
uplifted and educated any people, either intellectually 
or morally. The slaves, the serfs, and the coolies of 
the world have never been greatly improved in intel- 
ligence or character by labor, a fact that is in the face 
of some of the recent assumptions in the discussion 
of the question of manual training. 

It is thus seen that the so-called Comenian maxim, 
"We learn to do by doing," is, even when applied 
to outer doing, only a half truth. Simple comenian 
doing, without the guidance of knowledge, Maxim, 
never made an artist or an artisan. The poorest 
teaching, for example, is often done by teachers who 
have grown gray in the school-room. What is needed 
to transmute experience into teaching skill and power, 
is the inspiration of true ideals and the guidance of 
correct principles. Blind experience is always and 
everywhere a plodder. 

The arts taught in elementary schools, as reading, 
writing, language, music, etc., are never properly 
mastered by mere practice. Even the mastery of the 



128 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

two form arts, writing, and drawing, requires some- 
thing more than the mechanical imitation of model 
Teaching copics for a givcn number of minutes each 
School Arts, ^^y -phg teacher's work is to lead the 
pupil to form clear ideals of results, to teach him the 
best processes for attaining these results, and then to 
secure necessary practice under the most inspiring 
guidance. Automatic exercises may increase the 
mechanical facility with which pupils repeat known 
processes, but such practice never corrects errors or 
suggests improved methods or processes. They beget 
the habit of non -attention to the conditions of right 
activity, and create mental tendencies which are sub- 
versive of both teaching and learning. 

On the other hand, no mistake in elementary teach- 
ing is more absurd or futile than the attempt to teach 

Practice a school art by simply imparting a the- 
Essentiai. orctical knowledge of its principles and 
processes. The mastery of an art involves tJie acqui- 
sition of skill, and a knowledge of the art is chiefly 
valuable as a means to this end. Instruction without 
practice can not impart skill, and hence can not make 
an artist. 

The old-time attempt to teach the art of using good 

English, by means of technical grammar, is an illus- 

,,, , ,. tration of this error. This attempt was 

niustration. r 

based on the false notion that skill in 
speech and writing is a necessary result of a knowl- 
edge of the rules of language — an error still too com- 
mon in American schools, and especially in elementary 
schools whose pupils are too young to apprehend or 
apply abstract principles in any art. 



PRINCIPLES. 1 29 

The stupid custom of teaching formal analysis and 
parsing before practical composition richly deserves 
the ridicule now heaped upon it, but is Language 
there not evidence of a tendency to the Lessons, 
opposite extreme ? It now looks as if there would 
soon be an opportunity to laugh at the equally futile 
attempt to teach the art of correct speech by haphaz- 
ard, cut-feed language lessons, some of which are 
about as mechanical as the filling of a basket with 
chips, and result in about the same kind of skill. The 
function of language is to express thought, and no exer- 
cise in the use of language can impart much skill that 
does not begin with the awakening of thought and 
end with its correct expression. 

What is needed to impart skill in the use of lan- 
guage is a training that begins with the correct use 
of language in speech and in writing, and English 
ends with its scientific study, and in such Grammar, 
a course there is a place not only for oral and written 
composition, but also for technical grammar and rhet- 
oric — a place where a knowledge of the principles of 
language aids in its use. For one, I gratefully ac- 
knowledge my indebtedness to Lindley Murray for 
some of the little skill which I have acquired in the 
use of the English language, and especially am I in- 
debted to what has been characterized as the "gram- 
matical dissection" of good English. The thorough 
grammatical analysis of Pollok's Course of Time, 
Pope's Essay on Man, and Milton's Paradise Lost, 
and, later, the rhetorical analysis of Goldsmith's De- 
serted Village, and Shakespeare's Macbeth and Julius 
Caesar, gave me guiding ideals of correct, forcible, 
and elegant English. It is, however, important to 



I30 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

note that these were not the studies of early child- 
hood, and that manhood has afforded me some of 
the practice which was so unwisely denied in school 
and college. 



METHODS OF TEACHING. 



{13O 



fl^u^ k yf- "^ ^ 



METHODS OF TEACHING. 



The foregoing principles clearly indicate the charac- 
teristic features of a general method of teaching. It 
only remains to develop and outline this method, and 
then apply it in methods of teaching the several ele- 
mentary branches. 

PRELIMINARY DEFINITIONS. 

Attention has been called to the fact that educa- 
tional terms are used in different senses by writers on 
pedagogy (p. 12). This is specially true Terms 
of the terms instruction, teaching, and educa- Defined. 
tion. These terms are used by some writers as synon- 
ymous, and by others to denote acts and processes 
which are entirely distinct. One of the most critical 
of recent writers defines teaching as the act of present- 
ing objects and subjects of thought to the pupil's mind 
as occasions of mental activity and knowledge ; instruc- 
tion as the pupil's activity and knowledge occasioned 
by teaching ; and education as the state of mind pro- 
duced by instruction. These definitions make teaching 
the teacher's act, instruction the pupil's act, and 
education the result. The practical difficulty in using 

these terms in such radically distinct senses is the fact 

(133) 



134 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

that they are imbedded in literature as nearly synony- 
mous, being often used as identical and interchangeable, 
and the same is true of the cognate terms, instructor, 
teacher, and educator. The best usage is, however, 
increasingly employing these terms in somewhat dif- 
ferent senses, and every writer is free to use them in 
such senses, within these limits, as he may prefer. 

In this work, the terms instnictio)i, training, teaching, 
learning, education, study, and method are used in the 
senses indicated by the following definitions : 

Instruction is the act of presenting objects and sub- 
jects of knowledge to the pupil's mind in such manner 
as to occasion those mental activities that 

Instruction. 

result in knowledge. Instruction is the 
occasion, the pupil's mental activity the cause, and 
knowledge the result. 

Training is the occasioning and directing of the 

pupil's activities in such manner as to result in power 

and skill — mental, moral, and physical. 

Training. _ . . 

Training involves doing or practice, with 
power and skill as ends; as, to train a company of 
soldiers, to train an artisan, to train a performer, etc. 
The words training and drill are nearly synonymous. 

Teaching is the applying of means to the pupil's 
mind in such manner as to occasion those mental ac- 
tivities that result in knowledge, power, 

Teaching. &>>!-' 

and skill, its three immediate ends. Teach- 
ing is the occasion, the pupil's activity the immediate 
cause, and knowledge or power or skill the result. 

Teaching includes both instruction and training, in- 
struction being that part of teaching that results in 
knowledge, and training that part which results in 



PRELIMINAR Y DEFINITIONS. 1 3 5 

power or skill. While these processes or acts are 
distinguishable in thought, they are not entirely separa- 
ble in practice. Instruction usually involves training, 
and training depends on instruction, and hence teaching 
is the term that best describes the complete process. 

When the instruction element in teaching is presented 
by spoken words, or orally, the process is called oral 
teaching; when it is presented in print or in orai 

writing, the process is called ivritten teach- Teaching. 
ing. The instruction imparted by the living teacher is 
chiefly oral. 

Learning is the pupil's activity in acquiring knowl- 
edge or skill, and this activity may be occasioned by 
the living teacher, by books, by nature, or 

° . . . Learning. 

by other means. Learning is the pupil s 

own act, and teaching is possible only when it occasions 

and is attended by learning (p. 1 13). 

Education is any process or act which results in 
knowledge, or power, or skill. It includes not only 
teaching and learning, but all acts, proc- 

^ . . Education. 

esses, and influences which occasion these 

results, whether as scholarship, culture, habit, or 

character.* 

It is thus seen that education is a more comprehen- 
sive term than teaching, and teaching more comprehen- 
sive than instruction. There is a like but not strictly 
parallel difference in the cognatt terms educator, teach- 
er, and instructor. The best usage applies the term 



*The attempt to limit education to the drawing forth or develop- 
ing of the mental powers (its root meaning) has not been successful. 
It includes not only this radical act, but all activities and influences 
which result in human power, skill, and knowledge. 



136 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

educator to a person who is practically versed in the 
science and art of education. A teacher may or may 
not be an educator, and an educator may or may not 
be a teacher. A superintendent may be an educator, 
and the term may also be applied to an author or 
writer on education. The terms teacher and instructor 
are often used as synonymous and identical, but the 
tendency is to apply the term instructor to one who 
teaches knowledge, thus making it less comprehensive 
than teacher.* 

The term education is also used to denote the result 
of educational activities and influences. This is the 
sense in which the term is used in such expressions, 
as "a good education for business," "a gentleman of 
liberal education," etc. When the learner's activities 
Self are prompted by subjective cravings or 

Education, niotives, and are directed by himself, the 
result is called sclf-educatioji. There is an element of 
self-education in all education that is characterized by 
mental vigor. Learning is not only the learner's own 
act, but the most fruitful learning is self-impelled and 
self-directed. 

Study is the attentive application of the mind to an 
object or subject for the purpose of acquiring a knowl- 
edge of it. Study involves persistent at- 
tention, the continued or prolonged holding 



* This tendency to narrow the meaning of instructor is seen in 
the college distinction between instructor and professor, the term 
instructor being applied to college teachers of a lower grade than 
the term professor. This distinction is also indicated by the use of 
the preposition "in" after instructor, and "of" after professor; as 
an instructor in physics, a professor ^^ physics, etc. 



PRELIMINAR Y DEFINITIONS. 1 3 / 

of the mind to the knowing of an object by acts of 
the will. The term study is more commonly applied 
to the attentive application of the mind to an object 
when the living teacher is not present directing atten- 
tion or occasioning mental activity, as study out of 
class or out of school. The term is also loosely applied 
to the pupil's practice of an art under his mc^re imme- 
diate self-direction. 

It follows that the reading of a book without atten- 
tive effort to grasp the thought is not study. The 
glancing over a newspaper to glean the news, or the 
running over the pages of a story to discover the plot 
and catch the more striking incidents, is not worthy to 
be called reading, much less study; and it may be 
added that such skimming of the printed page weak- 
ens and dissipates mental power. The forming of 
the habit of running over books without thought is 
usually the end of mental growth and culture. 

An object or subject of study may be a materia) 
object, an event, knowledge presented in language, of 
any other object to be known. An object course of 
of study is called a study, and a series of study, 
related objects of study, a branch of study. When 
several branches of study are collected and arranged 
with reference to certain conditions and ends, they 
constitute a course of study. 

A method of teaching is a series of teaching act? 
so arranged as to attain a definite end or result. 
Method is more than the manner or way 

•^ Method. 

of an act or several acts. It involves a 
systematic arrangement of a series of acts, an orderly 
and rational procedure to a given end. A single 

W. p.— 12. 



138 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

teaching act has its manner or way, but not method, 
and a series of such acts may have a characteristic 
manner without having method or system. This dis- 
tinction between method and manner as appHed to 
teaching is shown in such expressions as "Reading 
may be taught in an interesting manner by the word 
method, 'i "She taught number by the objective 
method in a sprightly manner," etc. 



GENERAL METHODS OF TEACHING. 

There are two related methods of teaching called 
analytic and synthetic. In the analytic method knowl- 
Anaiytic and cdgc is taught by beginning with a whole, 
Synthetic. g,-,j proceeding to its elements or constit- 
uent parts ; and in the synthetic method, knowledge 
is taught by beginning with its elements or constituent 
parts, and proceeding to the whole.* But since analy- 
sis and synthesis are necessarily united in every com- 
plete process, each being the necessary correlativ^e of 
the other (as Sir William Hamilton shows), it is more 
accurate, as well as practically better, to designate a 
method of teaching as analytic when it begins with 
analysis and ends with synthesis, and as synthetic 
when it begins with synthesis and ends with analysis. 

These two methods of teaching- are illustrated in the 



■•■■ It is not meant that the elements or constituent parts are seen 
by tlie learner at the beginning to be parts of a whole, for this 
would involve a prior knowledge of the whole. The writer sees 
no ground for the view sometimes urged that only he who knows 
a whole can synthesize its elements. On the contrary, the whole is 
often only known by synthesizing its elements, these being first 
known as individual facts. 



GENERAL METHODS. 1 39 

first steps in teaching reading. When a word is taught 
as a whole, and then its elements or letters are taught, 
the method employed is analytic. When 4;he elements 
or letters are first taught, and then through these 
the word is taught, the method is synthetic. It will 
be noted that the process of reading sentences and 
paragraphs is necessarily synthetic. The reader passes 
fi-om the successive words in a sentence to the sen- 
tence as a whole, and from the successiv^e sentences in 
a paragraph to the paragraph as a whole. A knowl- 
edge of a city or of a state or country is necessarily 
reached by synthesis, and the same is true of all ob- 
jects that can not be first presented to the mind as a 
whole. 

There are also two other related methods of teaching 
called inductive and deductive. A method of teaching 
is inductive when it begins with individual inductive and 
facts and by induction reaches a general Deductive. 
truth or principle, A method is deductive when it 
begins with general truths or principles and proceeds 
by acts of reasoning to their constituent or included 
facts or truths. 

It should be observed that all deductive teaching is 
analytic, and all inductive teaching synthetic, but the 
converse is not true. Only deductive knowledge can 
be taught deductively, and only inductive knowledge 
can be taught inductively. The constituent parts of 
a chair, a landscape, a scene, or a story can be taught 
analytically, but not by deduction. Much of history 
must be taught synthetically, but its facts can not be 
grouped by induction. The reading of the description 
of a journey, a life, a country, or a natural object is 
a synthetic, but not an inductive process. 



1 40 ELEMENTS OF FED A GOGY. 



DISTINCT TEACHING PROCESSES. 

It has been shown that the principal means for se- 
curing the ends of education are tcacliing and learning, 
the latter including study proper and practice. The 
first of these means is the teacher's work ; the second 
is the pupil's activity, though more or less under 
guidance. 

Teaching includes three quite distinct processes ; viz., 
instruction, to occasion the pupil's acquisition of knowl- 
Three edge and power ; drill to deepen impres- 
Processes. sious and impart skill ; and examination, to 
disclose or test results. It will hereafter be shown 
that these three processes support and assist each 
other; that they all unite in occasioning those activi- 
ties which result in knowledge, power, and skill. It 
may here be noted that instruction has more special 
reference to knowledge and power as ends;and drill, to 
power and skill; while testing supports and energizes 
instruction and drill and also learning. 

Instruction. 

The first of these means includes oral and written 
instruction ; i. e. , instruction by the living teacher and 
instruction by books. Since the latter can best be 
considered under book study (p. 149), attention may 
here be directed to the nature and function of oral 
instruction, or, if the wider term be preferred, oral 
teaching. 



TEACHING PROCESSES. I41 

Oral instruction has three somewhat dis- orai 

tinct phases. It includes— instruction. 

1. The presenting of objects, material or immaterial, 
to the pupil's mind in such manner as to occasion those 
mental activities that result in a knowledtje 

° Objective. 

of these objects. This includes the excit- 
ing of the pupil's curiosity, the directing of his obser- 
vation and thought, the fixing of his attention, and 
all other means that assist him in knowing the objects 
presented. This may be called objective oral teaching. 

2. The leading of the pupil to recall concepts or 
ideas of objects previously presented to the mind and 
known, and by thinking to discern their 

' •' '^ Indirect. 

likenesses and differences, their relations 
as parts and wholes, as means and ends, as causes and 
effects, etc. This involves the use of words which 
represent concepts and ideas known to the pupil, and, 
being reknown, become present elements of thought. 
The teacher's special function is to lead the pupil to 
represent these elements, and by thought to attain the 
desired knowledge. To this end, the teacher does not 
directly tell the pupil what he wishes him to learn, 
but by skillful direction leads him to discover or dis- 
cern it for himself, a method specially applicable in 
teaching inductive knowledge, as the definitions, rules, 
and principles of arithmetic, and also in all analytic 
processes. This may be called indirect oral teaching. 

3. The direct communication of facts to the pupil 
by means of oral language. To this end, the teacher 
expresses relations (new to the pupil) be- 

'^ ^ . Direct. 

tween known but absent objects of knowl- 
edge by means of words which represent ideas of 



142 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

things, qualities, actions, and relations, fanniliar to the 
pupil. The words of the teacher recall known con- 
cepts and ideas, and the pupil apprehends or thinks 
the relation or thought expressed, which completes 
its communication to his mind. This presenting of 
new relations of known objects to the pupil by means 
of language may be called direct o)'al tcacldng. * 

The possibility of thus presenting knowledge to the 
mind by means of language is a matter of daily ex- 
perience, and on the certainty of the knowledge thus 
acquired are based most of man's aims, hopes, and 
efforts. It is this that makes speech one of man's 
highest and best endowments. Indeed, the prime 
function of language is to communicate the knowledge 
possessed by one mind to another, and it accomplishes 
this by its power to occasion appropriate activities in 
the mind addressed. The essential condition of thus 
communicating knowledge to another mind is the use 
of words that represent known concepts and ideas 
(p. 117). Take, for illustration, the sentence, "The 
source of a stream is higher than its mouth." The 
thought thus expressed may be clearly apprehended 
by a mind that has the concepts denoted by "source," 
"stream," higher," and "its mouth." It may be true 
that this fact can be better taught by the indirect or 



*It may be claimed that this is not oral teaching, and that the 
result is not knowledge, but information. This clearly depends on 
what is meant by teaching and knowledge. It is, of course, pos- 
sible to give a meaning to teaching that excludes the greater part 
of the teacher's work, and to give a meaning to knowledge that 
includes only what is directly known through the senses, but such 
definitions are too narrow and technical to be very helpful in the 
study of princi|)les and methods of education. 



TEACHING PROCESSES. 1 43 

inductive method, but this is not true of such a fact as 
"General Grant died on Mt. McGregor, July 23rd, 
1885," and multitudes of other facts that might be 
cited. Many of the most inductive truths of science 
are communicated to other minds by language, and 
by them are clearly grasped and known. They are 
often seen to be true as soon as stated. 

It is further to be observed that these three methods 
or phases of oral instruction — objective, indirect, and 
direct — are not only used in elementary 

•^ Union. 

teaching, but they are often blended in 
the same lesson. A simple "object lesson" may in- 
volve oral directions for observing, including the asking 
of questions, and not unfrequently the telling of some 
fact to excite curiosity, deepen interest, and direct 
observation and thought. The present object is often 
but a stimulus of the mind in thought activities. 

It is, however, an important principle of oral teach- 
ing that tJie pupil should not be directly told zv/iat he 
can easily be led to observe or discern for him- 

. . . Maxim. 

self. A violation of this principle robs the 
pupil of the joy and strength that would come from 
the discovery of truth, and it is feared that this is 
still a very common error in our schools. Direct in- 
struction has been so seriously and widely abused that 
it is hardly possible to put too much emphasis on the 
importance of using objective and indirect methods, 
when practicable. They are not only of the highest 
value in imparting clear and accurate elementary 
knowledge, and in training the mind to think, but 
they thus prepare the way for direct teaching, oral and 
written, and for book study. The primary teacher 



144 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

needs to keep the fact in mind that much talking may 
be very poor teaching. 

Drill. 

The second of the teaching processes, above named, 

is the drill, having for its special end the imparting of 

increased power and skill. In school edu- 

Function. _ _ \ 

cation, it is not enough that pupils be led 
to the apprehension of a truth, but, what is equally 
important, they must acquire the power to apprehend 
it again with greater readiness and clearness. It is 
not enough that pupils once reach a truth by inductive 
steps under the teacher's guidance, but they must ac- 
quire the power to reach it again with less guidance 
and greater certainty. It is not enough that they be 
led to sec the relations and take the steps involved in 
the analytic solution of an arithmetical problem, but 
they must acquire the power to see these relations 
easily and clearly, and to take the successive steps 
with readiness and ease. These results are largely 
secured by cirill, by repeating acts or processes until 
the requisite power and facility is secured. It is true 
that every act of the mind leaves as its necessary 
result an increased power to act again in like manner 
(p. 50), but the desired degree of power is often se- 
cured only by repeating the act one or more times, 
each skillful repetition resulting in an increase of 
power. 

The drill is not only an important element in teach- 
ing knowledge and increasing mental power, but it is 

Drill in an csscutial means of imparting that form 
Teaching Art. ^f power Called skill. This is specially true 



TEACHING PROCESSES. 1 45 

in teaching the school arts of reading, writing, draw- 
ing, singing, etc., arts involving the action of the 
body, as the hand, the eye, the vocal organs, etc. 
In acquiring these arts, the pupil must not only have 
a clear ideal of what is to be done, but the body must 
be made the mind's ready and facile agent, and this 
often requires long and well-directed practice. No 
manual art is properly mastered until the manipula- 
tions involved become largely automatic, and the same 
automatic action is required in arts that do not require 
the use of the hand. The teaching of any art requires 
the transmuting of knowledge into skill by tactful drill 
and practice. 

This calls attention to the fact that no other teach- 
ing exercise is more readily or frequently abused than 
the drill. In unskillful hands, it easily ^e- Abuse of 
generates into a mechanical routine that °"^'- 
adds very little to the knowledge, power, or skill of 
the pupil. Nothing in school work can exceed the 
stupidity of some of the so-called drills to which 
classes are subjected. The greater part of a spelling 
drill, for example, is often spent on words which no 
pupil has misspelled, or is ever likely to misspell, — 
which would require a special effort to misspell. Pu- 
pils drone over reading lessons which they know by 
heart, and reread them without the least gain either 
in grasp of thought or in its vocal expression. Pupils 
write in an inattentive and mechanical manner page 
after page, the writing actually deteriorating from the 
top to the bottom of each page. Pupils are required 
to solve problems over and over, which they first 
solved at a glance, and young pupils are sometimes 
kept combining and separating groups of objects after 

W. P.-13. 



1 46 ELEMENTS OF FED A GOGY. 

they have acquired the power to add and subtract the 
corresponding concrete numbers, and even abstract 
numbers. Drills with counters and match-sticks may 
be as useless and senseless as drills in counting by 
naming the successive numbers, and this can certainly 
be made sufficiently stupid to illustrate what is possi- 
ble in this direction. The w^aste of time in useless 
drills is often a serious evil in school work, and aimless 
drills are generally useless. The right use of the drill 
requires insight, judgment, and tact. 

The abuse of the drill is often aggravated in graded 

schools by the necessity of requiring the brighter 

pupils to go over and over what they have 

Abuse in i -I o ■/ 

Graded mastered, for the benefit of the duller pu- 
pils, who need more instruction and drill. 
The amount bf time and effort thus wasted by bright 
and industrious pupils is often very great, and, w^hat 
is worse, they not unfrequently lose interest and fall 
into indolent and careless habits. Being chained year 
after year to the duller pupils, they learn to keep 
step, and soon scarcely show their ability to advance 
more rapidly. It is for this reason that the extent 
of this evil is not always evident to the teacher. The 
writer has known teachers so thoroughly accustomed 
to "the grind of the system" that they would deny 
that the brighter pupils in their classes were at all 
injured by being held back by the duller ones, and 
yet these very teachers were drilling their classes until 
nearly all of their pupils could reach the coveted 
"ninety per cent" in examinations! The teaching of 
pupils in classes in a graded system, without sacrificing 
their individual powers and needs, is a difficult but 
very important problem. 



TEACHING PROCESSES. 1 47 

Testing. 

The third exercise included in teaching is t/ie testing 
of the results of instruction and learning. The pro- 
priety of considering testing a form of teaching has 
been questioned, but such a classification is clearly 
justified by the influence of testing on the efforts of 
the pupil. It arouses interest, increases attention, and 
adds an increased energy and persistence to mental 
action. It also throws needed light on the work of 
the teacher, disclosing imperfect results, and thus in- 
dicating what future instruction and training may 
be needed. Indeed, whatever may be one's theory 
respecting the value of testing or its relation to teach- 
ing, there are few, if any, successful teachers that do 
not in their practice unite testing with instruction and 
drill, and this is true in all grades of teaching, but 
increasingly from the lower to the higher. It is often 
necessary in giving the simplest primary lessons to test 
the results as a means of determining the nature and 
order of succeeding steps. This incidental testing is 
also supplemented by simple test exercises, and, in 
the higher grades of teaching, these give place to 
thorough examinations. 

The importance of the test as a means of securing 
study has long been recognized, and, as a consequence, 
it has had a prominent place in school Relation to 
training — doubtless too prominent, espe- study, 
cially in elementary schools, where it has often taken 
the place of needed instruction and drill. There is 
also a very close relation between both instruction and 
study and the nature of the tests applied to the re- 



148 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

suits. If the tests touch only the memory, the pupils 
will memorize ; if the tests are narrow and technical, 
the instruction will be narrow and technical ; if the 
tests run to figures, the drills and study will run to 
figures; if the tests demand details, they will empha- 
size and make imperative all "the lumber of the text- 
books." It may be stated as a general fact that 
school instruction and study are never much wider or 
better than the tests by which they are measured. 

The test has been widely abused in American schools, 
and this abuse has had an unfavorable influence, espe- 
Abuse of cially on elementary education. The use 
the Test. ^f tcsts that chicfly touch verbal memory, 
once almost universal, has been \\\^ occasion of much 
of the stupid memoriter work which so long charac- 
terized school training, and the use of examination re- 
sults as a means of comparing the standing of schools 
and pupils has narrowed and made mechanical the 
instruction of many a corps of teachers capable of 
better work. It is, indeed, difficult to determine which 
is the greater evil, the use of improper tests or the 
improper use of test results. One of the most impor- 
tant problems in the management gf graded schools is 
to determine how to subject the results of instruction 
and study to thorough testing, and not narrow and 
groove such instruction and study — a problem that 
will subsequently receive somewhat careful considera- 
tion (p. 193). 



STUDY OF BOOKS. 1 49 



THE STUDY OF BOOKS. 

It has been shown that learning is the result of the 
pupil's own activity, and that the end of teaching is 
to occasion and direct the learning activities of the 
pupil. Teaching may occasion the pupil's immediate 
activity, as during a class exercise, or it may occasion 
his activity out of the class and even out of school. 
This activity rfiay include study. 

It has also been shown that it is an important end 
of teaching to train the pupil to apprehend knowledge 
expressed in language — to pick thought 

^ . t> fc> i- fa Book Study. 

out of its veibal husk ; to master the print- 
ed page. It now remains to consider more specially 
the training- of the pupil in the aft of book study as a 

means of book mastery. 

The books used by pupils in school may be roughly 
classified as hiowlcdge books and drill books. The chief 
purpose of the former is to present knowl- classes of 
edge to the pupil's mind by means of Ian- Books, 
guage and pictorial illustration. A manual of geog- 
raphy, or history, or physiology, is a knowledge book. 
Such a book may present knowledge directly or it 
may guide the pupil's mind to the discovery of knowl- 
edge. The chief aim of the drill book is to present to 
the pupil material for practice in acquiring power and 
skill. A book containing arithmetical problems for 
solution, words for spelling, sentences for analysis and 
parsing, directions for practicing an art, etc., is a drill 
book. ^ • 



150 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

Several of the books in school use are books of 
knowledge and drill combined. This is true of an 
... ^ „ , arithmetic that presents not only examples 

Mixed Books. '■ j r 

and problems for practice, but also defini- 
tions, principles, rules, and other statements of what 
may be called the science of numbers. It is also 
true of a manual of English grammar that presents, in 
addition to materials for practice in analysis and syn- 
thesis, the elements of the science of language. A 
reader is both a knowledge book and a drill book, 
though too often used as a means of teaching the art 
of naming words at sight. An elementary text-book 
in science should not only present knowledge, but it 
should also direct the pupil in the study of material 
things and phenomena, to the end that his knowledge 
of primary ideas and facts may be widened and made 
clear and definite. 

The value of drill books in school training is gen- 
erally conceded, but a doubt has been raised respect- 
Vaiueof ing the use of knowledge books, especially 
Book study, jj^ elementary schools. It is claimed that 
the knowledge presented in school-books, excepting 
such as is connected with a school art, can be more 
readily taught orally, and hence it is inferred that the 
use of such books in elementary schools is a mistake. 
But the fact claimed does not justify the inference, 
since the prime end of school training is not the im- 
parting of knowledge, but the imparting of the power 
to acquire knowledge, and this includes the power to 
acquire knotvledge from books (p. 1 1 8); and since the 
majority of pupils leave school before they reach the 
secondary or high-school period, it is important that 
they be early trained in the' art of reading books with 



STUD V OF BOOKS. I 5 I 

ease and pleasure, and this involves practice in the 
study of books, or book mastery. 

It is possible so to teach pupils during the first eight 
years of school that, as a result, they will have very 
little power to master books, and, what is Neglect of 
w^orse, less desire or inclination to read Book study, 
books that require thoughtful study to master. It is 
the testimony of many experienced teachers in high 
schools, especially in cities where oral teaching has 
been prominent, that pupils now come to them with 
less ability to master books than formerly, and with 
less effective habit of study. It is admitted that such 
testimony as this is to be accepted with caution, since 
it is difficult to carry in the mind data for such com- 
parisons; but, in this case, the testimony is not only 
uniform, but it is supported by reasons that explain 
the result. The ability to master the printed page 
can only be acquired, as all art is acquired, by well- 
directed practice. Besides, it is clearly possible to 
train a child into the habit of so relying on the living 
teacher for guidance in observation and thought, and 
for stimulation and inspiration, that he has neither the 
inclination nor the power to hold the mind to the study 
of the printed page until its contents are mastered ; 
and it is scarcely necessary to add that such training 
is not the best possible preparation for self-education 
w4ien school assistance ends. 

There ought to be no chasm between oral teaching 
and book study in school training, but these two means 
of education should be harmoniously and effectively 
united. This is increasingly considered the most im- 
portant problem that now confronts American teachers. 



I 5 2 ELEMENTS OF FED AGOG Y. 



ORAL TEACHING AND BOOK STUDY. 

It may be stated as a guiding principle in the solu- 
tion of this problem that oral teaching a)id book study 
are complanenta}y meajis of school training, the former 
beitig primarily preparatory to the latter. 

This guiding relation is seen in the fact that all 
primary concepts and ideas in every branch of knowl- 

Primary edge must be taught objectively, and hence 
Knowledge, orally, it being impossible for the pupil to 
acquire these elements of knowledge from language 
(p. 113). The same is true of those primary facts 
which are only acquired by observing and comparing 
real objects and phenomena. The attempt to impart 
such primary knowledge by putting young children to 
studying, much less to memorizing, printed language, 
can only end in failure. It is clear that to this extent, 
at least, oral teaching must precede and prepare the 
way for intelligent book study in all grades of school. 

Another reason for making oral teaching preparatory 
to book study in elementary training is the fact that 
The Eye wHttcn language is not so easily understood 
and Ear. ]-)y children as spoken language. The first 
knowledge which the child acquires from language, is 
presented to the mind through the ear, and so the child 
early forms the habit of attending to and comprehend- 
ing spoken language. By the time he enters school, 
he has acquired the power to grasp thought within 
his experience, when expressed by known words, and 
this is done so readily that he is scarcely conscious 
of giving attention to the separate words. When the 



ORAL TEACHING AxYD BOOK STUDY. I 53 

art of reading is learned, the child is obliged to give 
conscious attention in succession to the words which 
make up a sentence in order to know the sentence 
as a whole and grasp the thought expressed by it. 
It takes a child a long time to acquire the power to 
run the eye unconciously over the words of a sentence, 
and see the sentence as a wJiole, and, until this power 
is acquired, reading is a more difficult art than listen- 
ing to the same language when spoken. 

Moreover, in speech the voice is greatly assisted by 
bodily expression. The movements of the speaker's 
arms and hands and the expression of his „ . .^ ^ 

^ Voice aided 

face often convey more meaning to the by Bodiiy 
child than the words' spoken by him. Not ''pression. 
only the emotions and desires of the soul but many 
of its thoughts have a bodily manifestation, and hence 
a gesture or a look may be more expressive than a 
word. The writer has often seen the dumb tell an 
incident or story very intelligently by means of pan- 
tomine. The face and the hand are silent partners 
of the tongue in the art of expressing thought. In- 
deed, so great are the advantages of the living and 
present speaker over the silent book, that compara- 
tively few persons ever acquire the power to read 
books with the same ease and grasp that they listen 
to speech. So marked is this difference during the 
period of elementary schooling, that oral teaching is 
a necessary means of preparing the pupil to read the 
printed page intelligently, and it must not only pre- 
cede but must accompany book study. 

It is not meant that all oral teaching should have 
a direct relation to book study. Much oral teaching 
guides the pupil in learning school arts, and especially 



154 



ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 



in forming moral habits and character. The power to 
read books is only one of the ends of school training. 

Another important truth to be observed in the solu- 
lution of this teaching problem is the. fact that tJie 
amount of oral teaching decreases as we pass up in the 
school grades, and the anion?it of book study increases. 
This mutual relation is shown by the following di- 
agram : 



6 TO lO. lO TO 


14. 


14 TO 18. 


Oral ; Teaching. 




^^ 




Book 


Study. 



In this diagram the first eight years (from 6 to 14) 
represent the period of elementary education, includ- 
ing primary, four years, and intermediate or grammar- 
school, four years; and the last four years (14 to 18) 
represent the high-school period. 



Their Union in Primary Classes. 

In primary classes, oral teaching and book study are 
chiefly united in the teaching of reading, including 
In Teaching Spelling ; and it is both desirable and pos- 
Reading. sWAq SO to tcach reading during these four 
years as to give the pupil considerable power in the 
mastery of the printed page, as well as to initiate the 
habit of attentive study. It is also possible so to 
teach reading as to make the art a stupid process of 



ORAL TEACHING AND BOOK STUDY. I 55 

mere word calling, with little intelligent apprehension 
of the meaning of the words named, and with less 
grasp and appreciation of the thoughts which they 
express. The teaching of reading to primary pupils 
involves not only the teaching of words as such, but 
the teaching of the concepts and ideas which the 
words express, and the leading of the pupil to a clear 
grasp of the thought to be read. All true reading is 
thought reading, and this is as true in oral reading 
as in silent reading. The expression of a thought 
with the voice requires that it first be in the mind. 
In the primary lessons in reading, the thought and 
emotion must not only be developed and illustrated, 
but the imagination must be assisted to construct the 
mental pictures involved. All this involves skillful oral 
teaching as well as study, as hereafter shown (p. 219). 

The teaching of numbers presents the next oppor- 
tunity for the introduction of book study. During 
the first two years of school training- num- 

^ ^ °; Numbers. 

bers are best taught without the pupil's use 
of a book, but, in the third year and subsequently, oral 
teaching and book study may be easily and effectively 
united. The elementary arithmetic stands next to the 
reader as a means of training a child in the compre- 
hension of printed language, and especially is this true 
when it contains many practical problems for study, 
grasp, and solution. There is no finer training for a 
child in close thinking than the mastery of language 
that presents simple relations between concrete num- 
bers, and no language can be made a more effective 
means of training in book study. In the studying of 
such language the child's understanding is exercised 
rather than his memory, since he must see the re- 



1 5 6 ELEMENTS OF FED AGOG V. 

lations between the numbers in order to solve the 
problems. There is no easier or surer test of his 
grasp of the thought than that thus presented. 

In addition to this training in reading and number, 

and the initiating of the child into the other funda- 

^.u o u mental arts, the first four years of school 

Other Sub- ' •' 

jects Taught sliould tcacli the primary concepts and facts 
^' of" geography (those relating to the child's 
world of home) and such other simple elements of 
knowledge as may be acquired by observation and 
e'>:periencc. Most of this elementary knowledge can 
only be taught orally, and, since much of it has little 
direct reference to the branches of study subsequently 
presented in books, this period of school training is 
characterized by oral teaching. The pupil is not only 
thus furnished with a large stock of primary ideas and 
facts, but is trained in their expression in language. 
It is preeminently the period of word learning and 
language training — of acquiring skill in the use of 
common laneuaee. 



Their Union in Intermediate Classes. 

During the next four years (the intermediate or 
grammar-school period), the teaching of reading should 
R din increasingly train the pupil in the mastery 
of written language, and, to this end, it 
should increasingly necessitate earnest book study. 
The reading exercise should not only develop all new 
concepts, images, figures of speech, and thoughts, but 
it should thoroughly test the pupil's understanding 
and appreciation of the lessons or pieces read. 



ORAL TEACHING AND BOOK STUDY. I 57 

The teaching of arithmetic during these years should 
unite oral and written processes; and, by easy induct- 
ive steps, the pupils should be increasingly 

11 1 11 r • • 1 11^ Arithmetic. 

led to a knowledge 01 principles and defi- 
nitions, and to a ready generalization of processes into 
rules — in other words, to the science of numbers. 
The text-book will furnish excellent material for such 
training, and intelligent and systematic book study 
can be easily secured. 

When the fifth school year is reached (if not a year 
earlier), the pupils should be well prepared for the 
study of an elementary manual of geog- 

1 1 .1 • , 1 L -1 Geography. 

rapliy, and there is no book better suited 
for pupils of this age than such a manual. The con- 
cepts and facts of home geography, taught orally in 
the primary period, not only afford an excellent start- 
ing-point, but the maps and illustrations appeal to the 
eye, and make the study semi -objective. Besides the 
successive lessons may be readily developed orally, and 
the young pupil be thus specially prepared for the in- 
telligent study of map or text. No elementary branch 
permits of more complete and satisfactory union of 
oral teaching and book study during this intermediate 
period of training. 

In the seventh and eighth school years (better eighth 
and ninth), the training in language may be supple- 
mented by English grammar, provided skill- English 
ful oral teaching prepare the way for the Grammar, 
.study of the book. Both analysis and parsing must 
be taught orally, and the book will furnish only a part 
of the sentences needed for practice. The mastery of 
the simple sentence in its several forms will require 



I 5 8 ELEMENTS OF FED A GOG V. 

a year's instruction and drill (p. 259). The so-called 
principles of language can only be reached by careful 
inductive study of language, and this is not easy work 
for pupils in these early years. The value of English 
grammar as a branch of study at this period will de- 
pend chiefly on the manner in which the subject is 
taught. The use of good English is the best road to a 
practical knowledge of what constitutes good English. 

In the seventh or eighth year the elements of phys- 
iology may be successfully taught by the use of a 
Elements of mauual, but this should not be the begin- 
Physioiogy. niug of iustructiou in this subject. Much 
important knowledge relating to the human body and 
the promotion of its health should be early taught to 
children. In giving such instruction it should be kept 
in mind that children can apprehend hygienic facts 
and duties long before they can understand their sci- 
entific reasons. It is a grave mistake to attempt to 
present such reasons by teaching young children ^/le 
anatomy of the vital organs.^^^ It is also to be remem- 
bered that the essential duty of the school is to see 
that the hygienic knowledge taught takes practical 
issue in right habits and conduct. It is not enough to 
„. teach children the facts relating to clcanli- 

Observance o 

of Laws of ness, posture, exercise, pure air, etc., but 
they must put these facts into practice, at 



*The writer has long doubted the wisdom of teaching young 
children the anatomy of the vital organs. He has feared that such 
instruction, especially in the case of children who are morbidly 
sensitive, ijiay result in habits of introspection, and thus interfere 
with the normal action of the vital organs and disturb vital proc- 
esses. The evil may be aggravated by the use of charts and models 
as illustrations. 



ORAL TEACHING AND BOOK STUDY. I 59 

least while at school. Much excellent instruction on 
the bad effects of breathing impure air is given in 
school-rooms which present at the time a practical illus- 
tration of the evil condemned, and it sometimes hap- 
pens that the teacher is a living example of the con- 
sequences of an habitual disregard of the "laws of 
health." What rs needed is a clear recognition of the 
fact that hygiene is not simply a science, but an aii. 
to be practiced. Health is one of the fundamental arts, 
and it should be as faithfully taught in the schools as 
reading or numbers 

But our present purpose is to note the easy union 
of oral instruction and study when a manual of phys^ 
iology is used by the pupils. All of the ,, 

^■^ ^ . Use of Book. 

more obvious facts of the science can be 
taught orally, and most of them may be learned from 
a good text-book, especially if its study be preceded 
by necessary oral instruction, made effective by ob- 
servation. The materials for such objective teaching 
and study are within comparatively easy reach, and 
the text and illustrations of a good manual may thus 
be made easy to master. For these and other reasons, 
the use of such a manual affords an excellent oppor- 
tunity for training pupils in the aH of gaining knozvledge 
from books. To this end, oral teaching and observa- 
tion must be supplemented by earnest book study, 
and, to secure such study, the pupils must be held by 
searching tests to the mastery of assigned lessons. 

The seventh and eighth years of school also present 
an opportunity for the union of oral instruction and 
book study in the teaching of history. The 

^ . History. 

use of a manual of history by the pupils 



j6o elements of pedagogy. 

at this age presupposes that much valuable historical 
information, local and general, has already been taught. 
Such instr^iction, in the form of stories illustrating 
historical characters, may be given early in the course, 
and this may be followed by interesting descriptions 
of historical events. Much information of this char- 
acter is presented in the readers and other books for 
youth, and much may be given in connection with the 
language exercises. It is to be kept in mind that all 
such information, whether presented in the form of 
story or description, must be reproduced by the pu- 
pils. They must be trained to tell and to tell well 
what they have learned. 

When the text-book is put into the pupils' hands, 
it will still be necessary to prepare them for its prof- 
itable study by oral instruction. There is 

Use of Book. •' -^ . , , , . 

not a chapter in any school history that 
young pupils can study with best results without pre- 
paratory instruction, and few events are so described 
that the living teacher can not throw needed light 
upon them, thus adding to the pupil's knowledge and 
interest. This needed preparatory instruction may 
often be given in connection with the assignment of 
the lessons for study, and the pupils' interest may thus 
be greatly increased. Besides, a school history pre- 
sents at best a mere outline of historical knowledge, 
and this outline, often dry as dust to pupils, must be 
filled somewhat and made interesting by oral instruc- 
tion and reading. The practical difficulty is to keep 
the oral instruction within proper limits. 

The object to be reached in teaching history is not 
solely to impart historical information, but, what is 
more important, to give pupils the ability to read 



ORAL TEA CIIING Ai^D B OK STUD Y. 1 6 1 

books of history intelligently, and to create a taste for 
and interest in such reading. A sure way to defeat 
all these ends is to require pupils to commit to mem- 
ory and repeat the words of the text — a stupid practice 
still too common in American schools. I know of no 
surer way to create in the pupil a strong dislike for his- 
tory and a controlling distaste for all historical reading. 

It is thus seen that during the elementary period 
of school training, oral instruction and book study may 
be effectually united, and that it is only by Elementary 
such union, in the proper time and manner, Penod. 
that the best results can be attained. It is also seen 
that the amount of oral teaching decreases from year 
to year, and the amount of book study increases. It 
remains to emphasize the fact that the last two years 
of this elementary period, especially, should give pu- 
pils considerable effective practice in book study, not 
only as a preparation for the work of the high school, 
but also for future self-education in case school priv- 
ileges can no longer be enjoyed. 



Their Union in High Schools, 

In the high-school period, the acquiring of knowl- 
edge from books is less difficult than in the lower 
grades, since the pupils possess increased orai 

ability to interpret written language, but Teaching, 
even in the high school oral teaching is a necessary 
means of preparation for book study, this being spe- 
cially true in the sciences and in history. In such 
sciences as botany, zoology, physics, and chemistry, 
the acquiring of clear primary concepts and ideas must 

W. p.— 14. 



1 62 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

precede the study of books, and these can only be 
acquired objectively, /. c, by the study of tilings. 

In most high schools, the large number of pupils in 
a class, and the limited facilities provided, make such 

Science objectivc teaching and study difficult. The 
Teaching, most promising beginning has been made 
in chemistry, and next, perhaps, in botany, but what 
has been accomplished in this direction is only a 
promising beginning. The attempt to teach the' ele- 
ments of these sciences from books is still a common 
error in high schools. Pupils in botany are studying 
the verbal descriptions of plants when they should be 
studying the plants themselves ; and pupils in chem- 
istry are studying descriptions of what they should be 
actually doing in the laboratory. It is in the teaching 
of the elements of science that the laboratory has its 
highest educational value. This training in physical 
science should be a continuation of the objective teach- 
ing of the lower grades, and, to this end, it should 
begin with and extend through the entire high- school 
course. When the study of a text-book in each sci- 
ence is undertaken, the way should be prepared and 
the study accompanied by proper oral teaching. 

What has been said respecting the teaching of his- 
tory in the last two years of the intermediate period 
applies, with little qualification, to the 

History. ri ' n ^ 

teaching of history in the high school. The 
needed instruction may often be given in the assign- 
ment of a lesson. One of the most successful teachers 
of history in high-school classes that the writer has 
ever known, usually took nearly half as much time in 
the assignment of a lesson as she did in conducting 



ORAL TEACHIKO AND BOOK STUDY. 1 63 

the recitation. She not only made a complete analysis 
of the lesson for the guidance of the pupil's study, 
but she directed them to sources of information — to 
supplement the manual used — giving page as well as 
author, and when these were not within the pupils' 
reach she gave the information, if needed for intelli- 
gent study. Her pupils left the class knowing clearly 
just what would be expected in the recitation, and 
deeply interested in the subject before them. In all 
the other branches there will be found a place for oral 
teaching as a needed preparation for successful book 
study. The practical difficulty is in determining the 
place and amount of instruction needed. 

The errors to be avoided in the union of oral teach- 
ing and book study, especially in higher classes, include 
(i) the removal of the necessity of proper 
study by too much instruction, and (2) the 
requiring of pupils to master book lessons for which 
they have not been properly prepared. The general 
principle to be observed is that assistance should be 
given to pupils only tvJicnit is needed. It is a mistake 
to give such instruction in advance as will deprive pu- 
pils of the benefit and joy of mastering difficulties by 
their own efforts ; and this is true whether mental disci- 
pline or abiding knowledge be the end sought. Every 
experienced teacher usually knows in advance what 
instruction, if any, is needed, and, instead of leaving 
his pupils to sure defeat, he will skillfully throw just 
enough light upon known difficulties to enable his 
pupils to overcome them with the feeling that the 
victory is their own. It is one thing to solve a prob- 
lem for a pupil and rob him of the sense of victory, 
and quite another to assist him to solve it. 



164 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 



CLASSES OF TEACHING EXERCISES. 

It has been shown that teaching embraces three dis- 
tinct processes — instruction, drill, and testing. These 
three processes give rise to three equally distinct 
teaching exercises ; viz, instruction exercises, djill ex- 
ercises, and test exercises. In practice these three 
exercises are more or less united, this being specially 
true of instruction and drill exercises, which are closely 
united in the teaching of all school arts, and also when 
repetition or drill is necessary to deepen impression 
or increase the clearness with which knowledge is 
apprehended. The test exercise more frequently oc- 
curs by itself, and, when united with instruction or 
drill, it is usually the leading or characteristic ex- 
ercise. 

These facts make it feasible to divide teaching ex- 
ercises into two distinct classes, called Lcsso7is and 
Lessons and Recitatwns, the former including instruction 
Recitations, ^^i^ jjj.jj| excrciscs, and the latter test ex- 
ercises; and it seems desirable that this classification 
be universally recognized in school literature. 

The term lesson is now very generally used to des- 
ignate an instruction or drill exercise, or an exercise 
combining both instruction and drill.* It is common 
to speak of a lesson on plants, a lesson on insects, a 
lesson on climate, etc., the chief element in each ex- 



*The term lesson is also used to denote the subject of study or 
instruction, or a task assigned for mastery. This is the meaning of 
the term in such expressions as "The lesson was well prepared," 
"The lesson assigned was too difficult," etc. 



TEACHING EXERCISES. 1 65 

ercise being instruction. It is even more common to 
speak of a lesson in reading, a lesson in writing, a 
lesson in drawing, a lesson in singing, etc., exercises 
including both instruction and drill. 

The use of the term recitation to designate a school 
exercise doubtless had its origin in the old practice of 
requiring the pupil to repeat or recite the words of 
the book as evidence of knowledge. The reciting: of 
the pupil was accepted as a test, and so the recitation 
was originally a test exercise — largely a test of verbal 
memory. But the term has, for some time, been used 
more indefinitely to designate either a test exercise or 
a lesson, and it is sometimes used in as wide a sense 
as the term exercise. The term is, however, increas- 
ingly used to designate a test exercise, or an exercise 
in which the test is the chief element, and we accept 
this as a warrant for the limiting of the term to this 
use and meaning. It is believed that such use of the 
term recitation will increase a needed recognition of 
the test as an important means of school training. 

It is only a few years since nearly all the class exer- 
cises in American schools were recitations, the lesson, 
especially the oral lesson, having a small place. Noav 
the class exercises in many schools are nearly all les- 
sons, and the recitation receives little attention. It is 
important that these two exercises be used as comple- 
vicntajy means of school training, and, to this end, that 
they be properly subordinated and united. The man- 
ner in which this may be done has already been indi- 
cated in the union of oral teaching and book study, 
as previously described (p. 152) — the recitation follow- 
ing and testing results — but this will be made still 
clearer in subsequent pages. 



l66 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 



THE LESSON. 

A lesson may be defined as a teaching exercise 
whose aim is instruction or drill or both. When in- 
struction and drill are united or blended in a lesson, 
the one is usually made subordinate to the other. In 
teaching those arts that involve manual or vocal skill, 
as writing, drawing, and singing, instruction is prepar- 
atory, and has a less prominent place than drill. Its 
aim is to give the pupil a clear idea of ivJiat he is to 
do and hoiu to do it — knowledge needed for guidance, 
and the clearer the pupil's grasp of this guiding knowl- 
edge, the more fruitful will be his practice (p. 124). 
But, in imparting skill, knowledge must be supple- 
mented by continued and persistent practice. 

In teaching the art of language, instruction and drill 

are more equally blended, since knowledge must be 

acquired before it can be expressed. Lan- 

Language. '■ ^ '■ 

guage is the expression of knowledge, and 
hence the learning of it as an art begins with the first 
acquisitions of knowledge, and runs through the entire 
course of education. Its mastery is so important that 
every lesson should be made a practical and effective 
drill in the use of language. It is not enough that the 
lesson aims to impart clear and definite knowledge ; it 
should also train the pupil in the art of expressing 
such knowledge in clear and accurate language. This 
result can not be secured by a parrot-like repetition 
of the language of book or teacher. The pupil must 
be trained in the expression of what he knows in his 



THE LESSON. 1 6/ 

own language. It is true that there are in nearly all 
branches of knowledge important definitions and prin- 
ciples which, at the proper time, must be taught and 
memorized, but the memorizing of scientific language 
is exceptional work in elementary education. The first 
aim of a knowledge lesson is to lead the pupil to a 
clear apprehension of the truth taught, and the second 
is to train him in its clear and full expression. 

A child's mind should, however, be increasingly 
stored with beautiful and vital truths expressed in 
choicest language. Our English literature Memorizing 
.sparkles with gems which become a rich Language. 
treasure in the memory. It has been urged that ^ 
child should never memorize language, the meaning of 
which he does not fully understand. The writer is 
glad that such a rule was not observed in his early 
training. There is much vital truth that we never 
fully comprehend until experience unlocks the mean' 
ing. This is specially true of religious truth, which 
we know at first only in part, and whose meanin^^ 
grows clearer and richer with our years. The ques- 
tion involved is chiefly one of degree. It does not 
subvert the important principle of elementary teaching 
that the memory should wait upon the understanding. 

The lesson should also train the pupil in the natural 
and distinct vocal expression of knowledge. The pu- 
pil should be constantly trained in speaking vocai 
in a pleasant, conversational tone, and with Expression, 
sufficient distinctness to be heard easily in any part 
of a room of ordinary size. It is well-nigh idle to 
drill pupils in distinct and natural tones in reading, 
if they are permitted to mumble or screech in their 



1 68 EL EM EN TS OF FED A GOGY. 

Other school exercises. The lesson should be an cf 
fective drill in proper vocal expression. 

Methods in Lessons. 

Since the particular method to be employed in giv- 
ing a lesson will depend on the nature of the knowl- 
edge to be taught, and the mental condition of the 
pupils, it is not practicable to give detailed instructions 
for the teaching of any branch of knowledge. The 
teacher must determine for himself whether the knowl- 
edge in a given lesson can best be taught by objective, 
or indirect, or direct methods, and if the teacher have 
not wit enough to determine this fundamental question 
of his art, he will do poor work in attempting to follow 
prescribed methods. The so-called "model lessons" 
may be profitably studied by teachers as illustrations 
of true methods of teaching, but they should never 
be blindly repeated or mechanically copied as patterns. 
Carpets may be woven, garments made, and statues 
carved by pattern, but the human soul can not be 
unfolded, informed, and enriched by operatives follow- 
ing prescribed forms. The teacher must be an artist. 

One of the most common mistakes of untrained 

teachers is the attempt to use the objective method in 

Objective teaching knowledge that can only be taught 

Method. |-,y other methods. This mistake may be 
avoided if the fact be kept in mind that the objective 
method can only be used in teaching objects of knowl- 
edge that can be presoited to the niimi. The elements 
of objective knowledge must be acquired by direct 
perception or observation. There is a clear distinction 



« 



THE LESSON. 1 69 

between objective teaching and illustrative teaching, 
which is often overlooked. An abstract truth may be 
illustrated by concrete examples, and even by graphic 
charts or figures, but this is not objective teaching. 
It is only when the concrete example is presented to 
the mind and knowledge is reached by its study that 
the method of teaching is objective. 

Another common mistake in giving lessons is the 
attempt to teach by the inductive method knowledge 
which can only be taught directly. The inductive 
facts of history and biography, and some Method, 
of the facts of geography and other elementary 
branches, can only be taught directly, and the at- 
tempt to teach such knowledge by inductive or other 
indirect process is a waste of time and effort When 
the writer has seen this wrong use of the inductive or 
drawing-out method, he has often been reminded of 
his boyhood experience on the farm in attempting to 
pump water from a well by means of a leaky pump. 
He first poured water in, and then springing to the 
pump-handle vigorously pumped the water out again. 
After several such attempts he would succeed in lift- 
ing the water in the well above the pump -valve, and 
then quick work would fill the bucket with cool water. 
The illustration fails in one particular. In pump-handle 
teaching no knowledge is drawn out that is not first 
poured in, while, in the case of the pump, the water 
poured in did assist in pumping water from the well. 

But the more common error is the use of the direct 
method when the indirect or objective methods can 
be successfully employed. Whether men- Direct 
tal training or knowledge be the end, the Method. 

W. p.— 15. 



1 70 ELEMENTS OF FED A GOGY. 

indirect method is incomparably superior to the direct, 
and hence, when practicable, the indirect method 
should always be used. No elementary branch of 
study affords a better opportunity for indirect oral 
teaching than arithmetic. All of its definitions, prin- 
ciples, and rules can be best taught inductively. It 
is a cardinal principle of elementary teaching that the 
pupil should never be directly told what he can easily 
be led to see or find out for himself. 

The above remark respecting the determining of 
particular methods of teaching applies to the use of 
Analysis and analytic and synthetic processes. These 
Synthesis. |-^yQ proccsscs are not only closely united 
in teaching all knowledge, but it is not possible in 
teaching any branch to make either uniformly the ini- 
tiative process (p. 138). 

Both analysis and synthesis are used in teaching 
reading, and even in teaching words, sometimes the 
United in ouc being the initiative process, and some- 
Reading, times the other. Words may at first be 
taught as wholes, and then separated into their letters 
or sounds. This is the analytic method, the analytic 
process being the initial. When pupils have by prac- 
tice associated the sounds or phonic powers of letters 
with their forms, they may be wisely taught ' ' to make 
out" new words by synthesizing the phonic elements 
which compose them. This is the synthetic method 
of teaching words. Pupils may also be taught to di- 
vide certain printed words into syllables, and then to 
synthesize these syllabic elements into the spoken 
words, thus uniting the analytic and synthetic proc- 
esses. This union of syllabic analysis and synthesis is 



THE LESSON. I/I 

an important step in the teaching of words. The read- 
ing of a sentence or paragraph is a synthetic process, 
but the thought may often be made clearer by analyz- 
ing the sentence, and giving special attention to the 
words or groups of words of which it is composed. 

Synthesis and analysis are, in like manner, united in 
the teaching of language. The expression of thought 
is a constructive process, and hence is syn- united in 
thetic. This is obviously true of the ex- Language, 
pression of thought by written language. The writing 
of a word, a sentence, or a paragraph is necessarily 
synthetic, and the same is true of the construction 
of sentences in speech or conversation, though the 
thought expressed may have been reached by analysis. 
Synthesis also prepares the way for analysis in teach- 
ing the relations of words in the sentence, the analysis 
of what has been composed or synthesized by the 
pupil being easier, and at first more helpful, than the 
analysis of sentences composed by others. Synthesis 
and analysis should be conjoined in the teaching of 
grammar (p. 255). 

In like manner analytic and synthetic processes are 
united in teaching geography, some of its facts being 
best taught analytically and others synthet- united in 
ically. Synthesis is usually the initial proc- Geography, 
ess in teaching home geography, including the geog- 
raphy of one's neighborhood, county, and state, but 
when a country is represented by a map, the initial 
process is analytic. The earth may be represented by 
a globe or map, and its great divisions and leading 
features taught analytically. There is no advantage in 
teaching: in succession the several o-rand divisions and 



172 ELEMENTS OF FED AGOG V. 

oceans, thus reaching a knowledge of the earth's sur- 
face as a whole by synthesis. 

This union of analytic and synthetic methods also 
occurs in the teaching of arithmetic. The principles 
United in of numbcrs are best taught by induction, 
Arithmetic, g^y^(^ ^\^q rules by generalization, both syn- 
thetic processes, wdiile the problems may generally be 
solved by analytic processes. It may be stated as a 
general principle that the deductive truths and proc- 
esses of mathematics are best taught by analysis, and 
inductive truths and processes by synthesis.* 

These illustrations suffice to show that only general 

directions can well be given respecting the use of par- 

„ . , ticular methods in teaching. The teaching 

Union of _ _ ° 

Different of tlic facts involvcd iu a single lesson may 
Processes, j-gquij-g t^g ^sc of different processes. The 
teaching of scientific knowledge to advanced pupils 
may not only reverse the order of the processes in- 
volved in teaching the elements of knowledge to young 
children, but may give prominence to processes little 
used in elementary training. This brings us back to 
the truth, already stated, that tcacJiing is an art, and 
not a mechanical routine. Skillful teaching requires a 
clear knowledge of guiding principles, a quick insight 
into determining conditions, and a ready adaptation 
of means to ends. 

The several methods of giving lessons to pupils in 
classes will be clearly indicated in the subsequent dis- 
cussion of methods of conductinsr recitations. 



*This is not inconsistent with Hamilton's statement that "the 
first procedure of mind in the elaboration of its knowledge is always 
analytical." 



THE RECITATION, 1/3 



THE RECITATION. 

The recitation may be defined as a teaching exercise 
whose chief aim is to test the knowledge or power or 
skill of pupils, and since this testing sustains a close 
relation not only to other teaching exercises, but also 
to the pupil's study and learning, the recitation is a 
very important exercise. If it be thorough, searching, 
and inspiring, the pupils' efforts will be vigorous and 
earnest, but if its tests be haphazard and superficial, 
their study and preparation will have the same char- 
acteristics. As a rule, the study of the pupil, both in 
extent and character, never rises above the require- 
ments of the recitation (p. 147). 

It now remains to consider more definitely the ob- 
jects or aims of the recitation as a test exercise, and 
the ways in which it may be made efficient. 

Objects or Aims. 

The recitation assumes that appropriate instruction, 
drill, and study have been employed, and it seeks to 
test the results. Its first object is to test Testing 
tJie pupil's knozvledge, and, to this end, it Knowledge, 
must search the pupil's understanding. If the recita- 
tion fails to test the pupil's comprehension of knowl- 
edge, it fails in an essential function. 

As a means of thus testing knowledge, the recitation 
must require its full and accurate expression. Such 
an expression of knowledge is the only evidence of its 
prossession that can be accepted in the recitation. It 



1 74 ELEMENTS OF FED A GOGY. 

may be true that a pupil may know more than he can 
tell, and it may also be true that he can tell more 
than he knows — the first fact being chiefly due to his 
inability to command words that express concepts and 
ideas in his mind, and the second fact being due to 
an ability to repeat memoriter language that expresses 
knowledge which he has not clearly apprehended. 
But whatever may be true in these respects, the rec- 
itation must assume that knowledge which can not be 
clearly expressed is indefinite and uncertain, and it 
must require such an expression as will disclose clear 
apprehension. Besides, since it is a prime function 
of the lesson to train the pupil in the clear expression 
of knowledge (p. i66), it is important that the recita- 
tion test the results of this training. Both the lesson 
and the recitation should recognize the fact that the 
power to express knowledge in clear and forceful 
language is one of the fundamental ends of school 
training. 

A second aim of the recitation is to test the pupiVs 
acquired mental power. It has been shown that mental 
Testing powcr is a more enduring and valuable re- 
Power. 5^J^- Qf teaching and learning than knowl- 
edge (p. 123), and it follows that the testing of this 
resulting power is an important aim of the recitation. 
It should test the pupil's ability to observe, to recall 
and reproduce, to imagine, to compare and analyze, 
to generalize, to judge, to reason, etc. Recitations in 
arithmetic should test the pupil's ability to apprehend 
numerical relations expressed in language, to reason 
analytically in solving problems, to reach rules and 
principles by inductive generalization, etc. The same 
is true of the tests in the analysis of language, and 



THE RECITATION. 1/5 

of the tests of thought power in other branches. One 
of the most common defects of recitations is that they 
test the pupil's abihty to repeat language and not his 
powers of observation and thought. 

A third aim of the recitation is to test the piipiV s skill 
in school arts. Skill is primarily manifested by action 
or execution. Skill in writing is tested by ^ . 

° •' Testing Skill. 

writing, in drawing by drawing, in reading 
by reading, in singing by singing, in composing by 
composing, in adding numbers by adding numbers. 
In the manual arts skill is also shown by the products 
or results, and the same is true of those arts in which 
results may be preserved in written form. It is, how- 
ever, to be noted that the products or results of art 
effort manifest power and accuracy of execution more 
than readiness and facility. The written solution of 
a problem, the written analysis of a sentence, a writ- 
ten composition, a mechanical drawing, etc., may 
denote accuracy, but not rapidity or readiness of ex- 
ecution. It is for this reason that actual execution 
is a better test of practical skill than the results or 
products of past efforts, and, besides, the vocal and 
purely mental arts can be tested in no other way. 

The testing of skill is so readily united with the 
drills for imparting skill that the recitation as such has 
a less distinct and prominent place in teach- Recitation in 
ing art than in teaching knowledge. There Teaching Art. 
is, however, great advantage in separating the recita- 
tion from the drill proper even in teaching art. It is 
one thing to conduct an exercise with skill as the sole 
end in view, and quite another to conduct a drill with 
testing prominently in mind. The test fetters both 



17^ ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

instruction and drill, and largely robs them of their 
freedom and power. Neither the instructor nor the 
trainer can do his best with a pencil in hand to record 
results. The confused mixing of the recitation and 
the lesson has been a great weakness in school train- 
ing, and it may be added that the so-called "marking 
system" has been a serious obstacle in the way of 
effective teaching. The making of the test, with its 
record of results, a separate exercise would do much 
to remove these weaknesses. 

It is not meant that it is cither practicable or de- 
sirable to separate the test completely from instruction 
Union of and drill in class exercises. On the con- 
Exercises. trary, the searching test may not only 
disclose the necessity of throwing more light on an 
obscure point, or making clear an imperfectly under- 
stood truth, but it may present the best possible 
opportunity for such incidental instruction. It may 
also present an equally favorable opportunity for added 
drill to deepen impression and fix a truth more clearly 
in the memory. The practical difficulty is in keeping 
such incidental instruction and drill within proper lim- 
its. It is liable to run away with the recitation if not 
kept under firm control. It is always a mistake for a 
teacher to permit instruction to crowd out testing in 
a recitation. It does not take pupils long to apply 
the doctrine of probabilities to determine the necessity 
of study, and too many pupils will take the chances 
if there be not well-nigh certainty that the results of 
their study will be tested. It must be kept in mind 
that the first and essential aim of the recitation is to 
test, and this aim should not be subverted by making 
the exercise chiefly a lesson. 



THE recitation: 177 

It is also true that the test may be more or less em- 
ployed in the lesson, especially in elementary schools, 
but it should be used incidentally, and as an aid to 
instruction or drill. 

The importance of the recitation in school training 
justifies a careful consideration of the merits and de- 
fects of the methods of conducting recitations com- 
monly used in American schools. These may be 
divided into two classes ; viz, methods of testing pupils, 
and methods of calling on pupils to recite. 

Methods of Testing. 

There are two distinct methods of testing a pupil's 
knowledge* — the eatechctic or question method, and the 
topic method, the first presenting tests in the form of 
questions, and the second in the form of topics. Ques- 
tion tests are more definite and usually require a briefer 
statement or answer than topic tests. A topic may 
only indicate the general character of the knowledge 
sought, and, as a rule, the more general a topic, the 
less de'mite and searching it is as a test. The recital 
of a topic may involve its analysis, and the arranging 
of the several sub-topics in logical order. This is the 
analytic phase of the topic method. 

Let us now consider the merits and defects of these 
two methods of testing in order to determine their 
comparative value and proper use. 



*In order to make this discussion as definite and practical as 
possible. It is here limited to methods of testing knowledge, but it 
will be seen that the principles and processes involved also apply to 
the testing of power and skill, at least so far as these can be shown 
by language. 



1 78 ELEMENTS OF FED A GOGY. 



I. The Question Method. 

The chief merit of the question method of testing 

is its thoroughness. There is no test of knowledge as 

searching and thorou<jh as a skillful ques- 

Merits. '^ *= . ^ 

tion. A very superficial knowledge of a 
subject will enable a pupil to talk on or about it, but 
the answering of a series of well-directed questions is 
another matter. 

The question method also permits a systematic Pin- 
folding of a subject. It not only gives the teacher 
control of the order of the topics, but also of the 
included facts, and he can thus give due prominence 
to the more important and fundamental. The prac- 
tical value of this feature is too obvious to justify 
elucidation. 

The question method also permits the imparting of 
needed incidental instruction with comparatively little 
sacrifice of the efficiency of the recitation as a test. 
When searching questions show that explanation or 
information is needed, the pupils are in a favorable 
condition to receive it, and it may often be given in 
few words, and thus lessen but little the efficiency of 
the recitation as a test. 

To secure the above advantages the questions used 
as tests should be clear, concise, and definite. The first 
Nature of stcp in answering a question is its clear 
Questions, comprehension, and hence it should be 
stated clearly and in the fewest possible words. An 
ambiguous or wordy question occasions hesitancy and 
confusion, while an indefinite question invites a loose 
and pointless answer. As a rule a question should 



THE recitation: 179 

be as accurate and definite as the answer which it 
solicits. 

The questions used in recitations should be so ar- 
ranged as to unfold the subject m a logical order — a 
very important matter. The order in which a subject 
is unfolded may make the pupil's knowledge clearer 
and more permanent, or it may confuse and muddle 
it. The teacher's tests should be logically arranged 
and systematic. 

All questions that suggest the answer, technically 
called leading questions, are worthless as tests, and 
should be carefully avoided. The same is true of 
questions that can be answered by "yes" or "no." 
The pupil, whatever may be his ignorance, is more 
likely to answer such questions correctly than incor- 
rectly. The manner in which the question is asked, 
the suggestive look of teacher or fellow-pupil, con- 
scious or unconscious, or some other hint, may make 
correct guessing quite easy. It usually takes a very 
dull pupil to miss a "yes-or-no" question. It may 
be added that the practice of helping pupils in recita- 
tions by leading questions or otherwise is pernicious. 
It deceives the pupil respecting his ignorance, and 
begets bad habits of study. The recitation is prima- 
rily a test, and as such it should hold the pupil rigidly 
to it3 requirements. 

The chief defect of the method of conducting rec- 
itations by questions is its failure to test satisfactorily 
the pupil's power of expression. This de- Defects of 
feet may be partly overcome by requiring Method, 
pupils to give full and complete answers, but even 
this is more or less inadequate as a test of expression. 
Many of the answers received in our schools consist 



I So ELEMENTS OF FED A GOGY. 

of a single word, or two or more words not forming a 
sentence — answers admissible in rapid reviews, but not 
in testing. In the recitation pupils should, as a rule, 
be required to answer questions in complete sentences. 
It is certainly not a good practice for a teacher to use 
more words in asking questions than pupils use in 
answering them. 

Another defect of the question method is its failure 
to necessitate systematic thought. The order of topics 
being determined by the teacher's question, the pupil 
is relieved from the necessity of analyzing the subject 
and arranging his knowledge of it in a systematic 
manner. This defect is greatest when the pupil's 
study consists in attaching ready-made answers to the 
printed questions in a book — a process about as me- 
chanical as the fitting of pegs to holes of different 
sizes. A pupil may, for example, thus learn the an- 
swers to scores of questions concerning a given country 
without forming a conception of it. His knowledge 
is in fragments. The recitation should be so con- 
ducted as to necessitate a systematic arrangement of 
the pupil's knowledge. It is not enough for him to 
acquire knowledge as classified by another mind ; the 
work of classifying and arranging must be done by 
himself, especially in the higher grades of school. 

It is thus seen that the skillful testing of a class of 

pupils by questions requires thorough knowledge and 

^ Art of careful preparation by the teacher. The art 

I Questioning. Qf asking questions is not a simple art. It 

/ requires a clear and systematic knowledge of a subject, 

a ready command of good English, and a distinct and 

controlling aim. . There has never been a more stupid 

practice in our schools than "the asking of questions 



THE RECITATION. l8l 

from the book" — novV happily disappearing. The 
author's questions may be models in form and arrange- 
ment, but their use in the recitation degrades the 
teacher to a mere machine, and reduces his teaching 
to a mechanical and lifeless routine. The only proper 
use of such questions is to assist teacher and pupil in 
preparing for the recitation, the teacher in increasing 
his skill in questioning, and the pupil in testing his 
knowledge. 

II. The Topic Method. 

The most obvious merit of the topic method is its 
value as a test of expression. In reciting a topic, the 
pupil is obliged to tell what he knows of 

: : . . . Merits. 

it in successive sentences, and this is ob- 
viously a much better test of his command of language 
than the giving of brief answers to specific questions. 

The topic method, when properly used, necessitates 
systematic thought in preparation. Recitations may be 
so conducted as to require pupils to arrange their 
knowledge of topics in some definite order, and more 
advanced pupils may be required to make in study 
analyses of topics, and to follow these in reciting. 
This affords an excellent training both in thought and 
expression. 

The topic method requires a clear-headed, thorough 
teacher to use it with success. In the hands of a 
superficial teacher it often degenerates into mere talk- 
ing, the pupils often failing to state what is most 
essential to be known, giving instead, comparatively 
unimportant details. Such recitations are exceedingly 
deceptive as tests, as experience has often clearly 
shown. 



1 8 2 EL EMENTS OF FED A GOGY. 

A comparison of the question and topic methods, 
as above presented, shows that they supplement each 
other, the one being weak where the other is strong, 
and vice versa. This fact suggests that the best re- 

„ . , suits may be secured by the union of the 

Union of ^ "' 

these miCthods \\\ a practical manner. In higher 
classes this may be accomplished by per- 
mitting pupils to study and recite, in the main, on 
the topic plan, but frequently testing their knowledge 
by interjected questions. This may be readily done 
even in a recitation in geometry. As a rule, when a 
pupil's reciting fails to show a satisfactory knowledge 
of a topic, he should be plied with searching ques- 
tions ; and the teacher should be on the alert for op- 
portunities thus to increase the thoroughness of the 
topic test. In primary classes the question method 
should be generally used, both for instruction and 
testing, and even in intermediate schools the topic 
method should be more widely used in reviews than 
in advancing exercises, especially in the lower classes. 

Methods of Calling on Pupils. 

There are three quite distinct methods of calling on 
pupils to recite — the Consecutive method, the Promis- 
cuous method, and the Simnlianeous method. In the 
first of these methods pupils recite in consecutive or- 
der or "by turn;" in the second they are designated 
promiscuously by the teacher ; and in the third they 
recite simultaneously or "in concert." The teacher 
should know the comparative merits of these different 
methods, and should be able to use each wisely and 
skillfully. 



THE RECITATION. 1 83 



I. The Consecutive Method. 

The first advantage of the consecutive method is its 
rapidity. Since the pupils recite in turn, no time is lost 
in designating the pupil who is to recite, 

_ =* =* ^_ ^ . ' Advantages. 

and since each pupil knows just when he 
is to recite, he is prepared to recite promptly. It is 
true that the promiscuous method may be so used as 
to oblige pupils to be ready to recite, but the possibility 
that they may not be called on, causes, as a rule, some 
hesitation. In the turn method the pupils' time of 
reciting is a certainty, and hence they are not only 
on the alert, but are ready to proceed. Experience 
shows that more questions can be asked and answered 
in a given time when the consecutive method is used 
than when the pupils to recite are designated by the 
teacher. 

Another advantage of this method is the fact that it 
is easy for the teacher. It relieves him of the neces- 
sity of selecting and designating the pupils to recite, 
and, so far as testing goes, his labor is thus reduced 
to asking questions or assigning topics, and then de- 
termining the correctness of the pupils' answers or 
responses. The recitation proper proceeds as me- 
chanically and regularly as clock-work. 

A third advantage of the consecutive method is the 
fact that all the pupils have an opportunity of reciting. 
No pupil is omitted. If the class is too large to per- 
mit all to recite at a given recitation, the next may 
take up the reciting at the proper pupil, and thus all 
are called on In due time, and all have an equal op- 
portunity to recite, provided, of course, that the mem- 



184 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

bers of the class take their places from day to day 
in a fixed or regular order. The importance of this 
advantage will be more specially considered in connec- 
tion with the promiscuous method. 

The chief defect of the consecutive method is its 
failure to necessitate close and iDiiversal attentioii. The 

Defects P'-'pil rcciting and possibly the one who 
has the next "turn," must give attention, 
but the others are not obliged to do so. When the 
pupils near the head of the class are reciting, those 
near the foot may or may not be following them. As 
soon as a pupil has recited, he can go a-fishing men- 
tally until his "turn" comes again. A skillful teacher 
may, of course, so interest his class in the recitation 
as to secure close and undivided attention, but this 
is not a necessary result of the consecutive method. 
Universal attention is secured not in consequence of 
the method, but in spite of it. 

A second weakness of the method, as generally 
used, is the fact that it permits a partial preparation of 
the lesson. The pupils near the foot of the class are 
tempted to neglect the part of the lesson which will 
be recited by the pupils near the head, and vice versa. 
When the old plan of having pupils read one "verse" 
each prevailed, many pupils counted the verses, and 
studied only the one which they would read, and this 
practice still exists not only in schools, but even in 
some colleges where students recite in turn. As a 
rule, pupils will study most faithfully that portion of 
the lesson which they expect to recite, and the turn 
method permits this expectation. 

This defect may be obviated by not following the 
order of the text-book in asking questions and assign- 



THE RECITATION. 1 85 

Ing topics, but much more effectively by having the 
reciting begin from day to day at diffo'ent positions in the 
class. If the recitation begins with the third pupil 
one day, with the tenth pupil the next day, the sixth 
pupil the next day, and so on, no pupil, when pre- 
paring the lesson, can even guess what portion of it 
will fall to him to recite, and hence he is only safe 
when he has prepared the entire lesson. This device 
works best when all the pupils of a class recite daily. 

Another defect of the consecutive method is the fact 
that it prevents the most thorough testing of a class. The 
tests which by turn fall to the different pupils may not 
be those which best disclose their knowledge of the 
subject. The revolving recitation may, for example, 
bring to an idle pupil the only question or topic which 
he can recite, and he may thus be tempted to trust 
to luck next time, the idle being very easily tempted. 
The wise teacher usually knows where to throw his 
tests to disclose ignorance or neglect of study. The 
highest efficiency of a recitation depends largely on a 
skillful distribution of its tests. 

II. The Promiscuous Method. 

A study of this method of calling on pupils to re- 
cite shows that its merits and defects are respectively 
the inverse of those of the consecutive ,, .^ 

Merits. 

method. Its most obvious merit is the fact 
that it secures and holds the attention of all the pupils in 
a class. It is true that this result depends somewhat 
on the skill of the teacher, but the method both per- 
mits and favors the highest success. When a topic 
or question is announced, every pupil is obliged to 

W. p.— 16. 



1 86 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

be on the alert, as he may be designated to recite. 
He must also give attention to the pupil reciting, as at 
any moment, he may be called upon to correct errors, 
supply omissions, or complete the recitation, and this 
is specially true when the teacher frequently calls on 
pupils to complete the recitation of another, taking it 
up precisely at the right point. This may be readily 
done in recitations in arithmetic, particularly in the 
oral solutions of mental problems, and also in history, 
reading, physiology, and other branches. This advan- 
tage of the promiscuous method is wholly lost when 
the pupil to recite is designated before the question is 
asked or the topic assigned, as is frequently done by 
teachers who have never made a special study of 
m.ethod. The test should first be submitted to the 
class, and there should not be even a prior glance at 
the pupil to be called on to recite. 

A second advantage of this method is the fact that 
it permits a proper' distribution of tests. The tests can 
be thrown by the teacher just where they will prove 
most effective and do the most good. The idle pupil 
may be given full opportunity to show the results of 
idleness ; the pupil who was assisted yesterday, may 
be called upon to recite in review ; any want of atten- 
tion may instantly be corrected, etc. The recitation 
may be made a thorough test, and the pupils be in- 
cited to a faithful preparation of the entire lesson. 

A skillful use of the promiscuous method makes the 

recitation a fine mental drill — an excellent mental 

gymnastic. Suppose, for illustration, that 

Mental Drill. ^^ . . . 

a class in arithmetic, containing twenty 
pupils, solves twenty problems in a recitation. If the 
recitation be so conducted as to require each pupil to 



THE REGIT A TION. 1 8/ 

solve but one problem, the recitation would necessitate 
but twenty mental solutions. But by the use of the 
promiscuous method each pupil may be obliged to 
solve mentally all of the twenty problems, and the 
recitation would thus necessitate four hundred mental 
solutions. 

The promiscuous method is less rapid than the con- 
secutive, it is not so easy for the teacher, and it re- 
quires very skillful use to afford pupils an 

^ ■' ^ ^ Defects. 

equal opportunity to recite. This last de- 
fect is most serious in large classes, the teacher being 
liable to omit some of the pupils. The writer has 
known classes in which it often happened that some 
of the pupils did not have an opportunity to recite 
for several successive recitations. The result was a 
loss of interest on the part of the omitted pupils, and 
a neglect of study. Few pupils will thoroughly pre- 
pare lessons, if there is even a probability that they will 
not be called on to recite. The most faithful study is 
secured when every recitation tests the preparation of 
each pupil in the class. Some teachers are uncon- 
sciously in the habit of assigning the greater portion 
of a recitation to a few pupils, omitting almost wholly 
the others. Easy and superficial teachers are apt to 
assign the more difficult questions or topics to the 
brighter pupils, and the easier to the dull and back- 
ward. A "severely thorough" teacher, on the con- 
trary, is liable to fall into the opposite error, and 
overwhelm the more backward pupils with all the 
difficulties of the lesson, and most of the reciting. 
Dull pupils are sometimes omitted purposely, this be- 
ing most likely to occur when visitors are present, as 
in public examinations. The temptation on such oc- 



1 88 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

casions to call only on the brightest pupil is too strong 
for many weak teachers to resist, and, for this reason, 
the public exercises in our schools are sometimes 
worse than shams. 

Various devices have been resorted to by teacners 

to obviate the defects of the promiscuous method and 

increase their skill in its use. One of these 

Devices. 

is to write the name or number of each 
pupil in a class on a small card, thus using as many 
cards as there are pupils. At each recitation the cards 
are mixed and dropped in a box, or put in a pile on 
the table. The pupils to recite are selected by taking 
cards from box or pile. The writer obtained this plan 
from Horace Mann. It works quite well in advanced 
classes with long recitations, and especially if the 
teacher frequently takes a card from those already used, 
thus holding the attention of those who have recited. 

Another device is to put all the numbers of the 
members of the class on one card, arranging the same 
in the form of some geometrical figure which will per- 
mit the calling of the numbers on successive days in 
different orders. The writer devised and used this 
plan years ago with great satisfaction. It leaves the 
teacher free to sit or stand during the recitation, to 
move about the room and occupy different positions. 
When the recitation closes, the teacher knows what 
pupils, if any, have been omitted, and by frequently 
calling on pupils without reference to the card, the 
attention of the entire class is held. 

But since the promiscuous and consecutive methods 
supplement each other, the easiest plan of avoiding 
their respective defects is to combine them. This may 



THE RECITATION. 1 89 

be done by permitting pupils to recite by turn except 
when the teacher designates another pupil. If these 
exceptions are sufficiently numerous, the union of 
attention of the class will be as universally Methods, 
held as by the promiscuous method. The most skill- 
ful teacher of oral spelling we have ever known, com- 
bined these methods. The words passed rapidly down 
her class except when she "threw" pronounced words 
to other pupils, and this was done so frequently and 
skillfully that no pupil felt safe in taking his eye from 
her. When the recitation closed, every pupil had 
been tested, and the poor spellers and the listless, 
idle, and careless had received special attention. A 
little practice will enable any skillful teacher to com- 
bine these methods successfully. 

III. The Simultaneous Method. 

There may be a doubt respecting the propriety of 
including the concert method among the methods of 
testing pupils. At best, it can only test Defects as a 
a class as a whole, and, to make this possi- '^®^*- 
ble, there must be verbal uniformity in the answers, 
and then it becomes a test of verbal memory — not 
of the understanding. Even within these narrow limits, 
concert reciting is a poor test, since it fails to show 
how many or what pupils possess the knowledge op 
skill tested. The responses of the class may be led 
by a few pupils, even by one pupil, and the rest may 
mechanically follow, and all this may be done in such 
a way as to make it difficult to detect the leadership 
or the following. Many teachers have been thus de- 
ceived respecting the progress made by their pupils. 



1 90 ELEMENTS OF FED AGOG Y. 

They have accepted the glib and confident responses 
of their classes in concert as evidence that the indi- 
vidual pupils actually possess the knowledge thus ex- 
pressed ; and not a few teachers, who use the method 
much, have been surprised at the disclosures of igno- 
rance made by written tests, or by the oral examina- 
tion of individual pupils.* The truth is that the 
concert method has a yery limited use as a means of 
testinfj. 



It may be added that the above methods of con- 
ducting recitations may be successfully used, with some 
Their Use in modifications, in giving lessons (p. 166). 

Lessons. 'pj-jg essential thing in all class exercises is 
to arouse the interest and hold the attention of all the 
pupils. This can only be done by occasioning the 
continued and constant activity of the minds of the pu- 
pils. It is not what the teacher says or does that tells, 
but what the pupils learn, and they can only learn 
by their own activity (p. III). The concert method 
may be sometimes used with good results in class in- 
struction and drill exercises. It may be occasionally 
employed to arouse attention and awaken interest, and 
also to fix a truth, and especially its exact statement. 



* This weakness of the concert method was fully disclosed in the 
once famous Lancasterian schools, in which large classes of children 
were instructed, drilled, and tested in concert. They made surpris- 
ing progress apparently, their noisy responses indicating almost 
universal knowledge of what had been often repeated. The sug- 
gestion that the pupils be individually tested was acted upon, and the 
results showed that the great majority of the pupils could not even 
repeat alone what they so glibly recited together, and that they 
were wofully ignorant of what had been verbally repeated. The 
popularity of these schools soon declined. 



THE RECITATION. I9I 

in the memory. It may be generally employed in 
drills in singing, and, to a limited extent, in reading 
drills. When a sentence is clearly understood, there 
is often great advantage in having a class give vocal 
expression to the thought in concert. It is often pos- 
sible thus to secure a free and clear expression, not 
otherwise possible to secure from some of the pupils. 
The voices of other pupils not only guide and support 
the timid and hesitating, but, what is more important, 
they are thus inspired with confidence and can do 
their best, as is also true in the singing of difficult 
passages. But the concert drill should be sparingly 
used even in teaching reading, and it should always 
be accompanied and succeeded by the individual drill. 

But the concert method has been so widely and 
sadly abused in elementary training that it would seem 
wise to discountenance its use altogether. Abuse of con- 
The writer has visited primary schools in '^^■'^ Method. 
which all the lessons in reading and spelling, tables 
of numbers, of weights and measures, etc., were re- 
cited not only in concert, but in sing-song, quasi- 
musical tones, at once distressing to the ear and 
stupefying to the mind. There is no speedier process 
for reducing a bright child to stupidity than a vigorous 
use of the hum -drum concert drilling, which was once 
so nearly universal in primary schools, even in large 
cities. A few years ago a friend, who had musical 
gifts, visited the primary schools in one of the largest 
cities in the country, and indicated the tones used in 
different concert exercises by a semi-musical notation! 

It seems unnecessary to add that much concert re- 
citing injures the voice, both for speaking and singing. 
The resulting "primary tone," as it has been called, 



192 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

is often heard in the pulpit, at the bar, and in the 
forum, and much of the best drilHng in reading in the 
upper grades of school aims to overcome or remove 
the bad habits acquired in the lower. If concert ex- 
ercises are ever employed, special pains should be 
taken to keep the tones natural and pleasant. It is in 
place to add that the boisterous, discordant yelling, 
which is encouraged in too many schools as "singing," 
is injurious to the singing voice and subversive of 
musical taste. There should be increasing attention 
given in elementary schools to the quality of children's 
voices both in reading and singing. 



WRITTEN EXAMINA TIONS. 1 93 



WRITTEN EXAMINATIONS. 

There has been no change in school training in the 
past thirty years more marked or general than the use 
of written exercises. This change has oc- written 
curred not only in the higher grades of Exercises, 
school, but even more notably in elementary schools. 
Pupils are now very generally taught to write from 
the beginning of the school course, several years earlier 
than was formerly permitted ; and the skill in writing, 
thus early acquired, is utilized in many ways. Writ- 
ing in some form accompanies and largely enters into 
the training in reading, spelling, language, numbers, 
and nearly all other branches. Skill in writing is no 
longer the end of the writing exercises in school, but 
it has become a means of training — an important 
means in nearly all school work. The slate and pen- 
cil are now a necessary part of the primary pupil's 
outfit, and their use is required not only in the work 
and study of pupils in their seats, but also in class 
exercises. 

It is becoming a somewhat serious question, one 
demanding careful attention, whether written work has 
not too large a place in some elementary schools, not 
only for the best mental training, but more especially 
for the physical health of pupils. The writer shares 
the fear, expressed by many thoughtful observers, that 
the pupils in many graded schools spend too much 
time in the use of pencil and pen. It is believed that 
the almost constant use of slate and pencil for several 
hours daily is a serious tax on the nervous system 

W. p.— 17. 



194 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

of young children and that the cramped positions, thus 
occasioned, interfere with the free action of the lungs 
and other vital organs. It is certainly a serious mis- 
take to keep a young child at work with slate and 
pencil for the sake of keeping him busy — the usual plea 
of teachers when their attention is called to this evil. 
It is not too much to claim that the total amount of 
slate or tablet work required of primary pupils should 
not exceed two hours a day — divided into, say four, 
separate periods of not more than thirty minutes each ; 
and that intermediate pupils should not use pencil and 
pen over three to four hours daily, and this use should 
not be continuous. The amount of written work may 
properly increase as pupils pass up in the grades. 

There is certainly no justification for the require- 
ments of many schools that nearly all lessons shall be 
writin in Prepared in writing. It is the practice in 
Preparing somc schools to require pupils to write out 
(often in set forms) the analyses of mental 
problems in arithmetic and sentences in grammar, rules 
and definitions in both, tabulated or outline descrip- 
tions in geography, etc., and all this in addition to 
language exercises, written work in arithmetic, spelling, 
etc. The amount of written work thus annually re- 
quired of pupils in the mastery of the several branches, 
would make a bulky book, if printed. Writing has 
a proper and useful place in school work, and the 
writing out of an analysis, rule, or outline, may be 
wisely required as a part of the preparation of a given 
lesson, but a distinction should be made between the 
use of a given means to* secure a special result, and 
the habitual use of such means as a part of a general 
method of work. The amount of written work re- 



WRITTEN EXAMINATIONS. 1 95 

quired of pupils in a given branch should have in- 
telligent reference to the amount required in other 
branches. The total energy usable in writing should 
certainly be considered when assigning written exer- 
cises to children. A keen observer need not remain 
long in some of our schools to observe the "fidgety" 
condition of a number of the pupils while preparing 
written work, and many thoughtful parents are watch- 
ing with solicitude the home study of their children, 
who sometimes act as if they would "fly to pieces," 
as a nervous girl once expressed her feeling. It is 
certainly high time to call the attention of superin- 
tendents and teachers to the dangers involved in the 
indiscriminate and excessive use of pen and pencil in 
elementary schools. 

With this caution respecting the overuse, if not 
abuse, of the pen in school work, we now proceed to 
consider the place and value of the ivritten written 
test. It may be used, to a limited extent, Tests, 
in the daily recitation, and increasingly as we ascend in 
the grades. The written test has long been used in 
teaching spelling, the written processes of arithmetic 
and algebra, and it is now increasingly used in teach- 
ing language and other branches. It may be effect- 
ively used in final reviews where the recitation needs 
to be more incisive than comprehensive. What are 
usually called "written reviews" are only written tests 
applied to the successive portions of a subject, gone 
over more thoroughly and fully when advancing. The 
topic method of reviewing subjects affords an excellent 
opportunity for this use of written tests, especially in 
the reproduction of analytic outlines to serve as a basis 
for the fuller oral recitation. 



1 96 ELEMEN'TS OF FED A GOGY. 

But the written test may be wisely used as a final 
review of a subdivision of a branch of study. Nearly 
all the branches of knowledge taught in the schools 
are composed of several more or less closely related 
Final Re- subjccts, which arc sufficiently distinct to 
views— Sub- permit their successive mastery. Arithme- 
tic, for example, includes the several fun- 
damental rules, fractions, decimal fractions, United 
States money, denominate numbers, percentage, etc., 
and like subdivisions are found in geography, English 
grammar, history, physiology, etc. When pupils have 
gone over one of these subdivisions, and are supposed 
to be well prepared to advance to the succeeding one, 
it is very profitable to subject them to a searching 
written examination, and the same is true when they 
have completed a branch of study. Such tests afford 
pupils a tangible and reliable measure of their progress 
and condition — an important assistance. It is a com- 
Faiiingof mon failing of pupils to overestimate their 
Pupils. acquirements, and this is true even when 
their knowledge and power are subjected to searching 
oral tests in the recitation. The pupil who fails in an 
oral test, may comfort himself with the belief that his 
classmates would likewise have failed on the same test, 
but there is no opportunity for such delusion in the 
written examination, in which all pupils have the same 
tests, and, when strict honesty is secured, an equal 
opportunity to meet them. 

But this falling is not confined to pupils. Teachers 

as a class overestimate the progress of their pupils, 

Failing of and the more superficial the teacher the 

Teachers, greater this failing. Written tests greatly 

assist the teacher in correcting this tendency. They 



WRITTEN EXAMINATIONS. 1 9/ 

not only disclose the actual condition of his pupils, 
but defects in his teaching, not revealed even by the 
recitation — and this is specially true when the teacher 
has not prepared the questions submitted as tests. 
What an eye-opener a searching written examination 
would be in schools where teachers talk and explain 
much, and the pupils recite very little ; where the in- 
struction is given largely in the form of running talks 
without a halt to test results ! 

It is thus seen that the written test may be wisely 
and profitably used in recitations in spelling and arith- 
metic, and, to a limited extent, in other uses and 
branches, especially in reviews, and that it w!ht°^ 
may be used, with special advantage, at the Tests, 
completion of the several subdivisions of all branches 
of study, and at the completion of each branch. 
When thus used as an aid to teaching and study, the 
written test has several special advantages. It is more 
impartial than the oral test, since it gives all the pupils 
the same tests and an equal opportunity to meet them ; 
its results are more tangible and reliable ; it discloses 
more accurately the comparative progress of the dif- 
ferent pupils, information of value to the teacher ; it 
reveals more clearly defects in teaching and study, 
and thus assists in their correction ; it emphasizes more 
distinctly the importance of accuracy and fullness in 
the expression of knowledge ; it reveals more fully 
than the ordinary language exercise the ability of the 
pupil to write correctly when his attention is directed 
to the thought or subject-matter; it is at least an equal 
test of the thought-power or intelligence of pupils, 
since this result, in both methods, is dependent upon 
the nature of the tests ; and, lastly, the certainty of 



1 98 ELEMEN TS OF PEDAGOG Y. 

the coming written test affords a healthy stimukis to 
pupils, increasing their attention to instruction, and 
their efforts to master the subjects taught. It is, of 
course, possible for a teacher to neglect or slight the 
recitation proper, and make a hobby of the written 
examination, a frightful bugbear to sensitive pupils, 
and the source of rivalry, worry, overstudy, and other 
evils ; but we are now considering the written test, 
not as a substitute for the oral test, but as supple- 
menting- it in the current work of the school, and used 
in the same spirit and with equal common sense. 
When thus used, the written test is a most valuable 
means of school training. It is not only in harmony 
with the freest and most rational teaching, biit may 
be made a valuable aid to such teaching — a fact at- 
tested by the experience of the most progressive and 
skillful teachers of the country. 

It seems unnecessary to add that it can not be made 
a universal test. It can not test power or skill which 
is expressed by the voice, as in reading and singing, 
and it can not measure the power of the conscience 
and other moral forces in the life. Its use has other 
obvious limitations. 



We are now prepared to consider a related but a 
very different question ; viz, tJie propriety of making the 
results of zvritten examinations the basis for the bestow- 
ment of scholastic rewards and Jionors, for the promotion 
and classification of pupils, and for determining the com- 
parative standing or success of schools and teachers. 

As soon as the value of the written test as a means 
of ascertaining the attainments of pupils was deter- 



WRITTEN EXAMINATIONS. 1 99 

mined, it was widely and increasingly adopted by 
boards of education and superintendents as a basis for 
one or more of the above ends, and espe- written ex- 
cially for the promotion of pupils. In some aminations. 
schools, promotions were made on the results of an 
annual examination, this being generally true of pro- 
motions to the high school ; in other schools three 
such examinations were held each year, one at the 
close of each term ; other schools had six examinations 
annually, one near the middle and one at the close of 
each term ; and not a few schools adopted the plan of 
monthly examinations, with a general examination at 
the close of the year. Whatever the number of ex- 
aminations held, the results were generally estimated 
on a scale of i to 100 and tabulated. These "per 
cent tables," as they are widely called, were made the 
basis of the promotion and classification of pupils, often 
the only basis, and in many cities and towns they 
were used as a means of comparing schools and teach- 
ers. It was once not an uncommon thing for superin- 
tendents to publish the percentages of correct answers 
credited the individual pupils, and more frequently the 
average percentages of classes in the several schools. 
These tables thus came under the inspection of the 
patrons of the schools and others interested in them, 
and thus became a sort of public standard for deter- 
mining the efficiency of teachers. 

No one familiar with graded schools in cities need 
be told that these several uses of the written examina- 
tions (especially the last) have been the Resulting 
prolific source of bitter jealousies and rival- ^^''^• 
ries between schools and teachers, and that they have 
otherwise been attended by serious evils. They have 



200 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

perverted the best efforts of teachers, and narrowed 
and grooved their instruction ; they have occasioned 
and made well-nigh imperative the use of mechanical 
and rote methods of teaching ; they have occasioned 
cramming and the most vicious habits of study ; they 
have caused much of the overpressure charged upon 
the schools, some of which is real ; they have tempted 
both teachers and pupils to dishonesty ; and, last but 
not least, they have permitted a mechanical method 
of school supervision. 

It is not asserted that these results, especially in 
the degree here indicated, have universally attended 
the adoption of the "examination system." These 
tendencies have been more or less effectively resisted 
by superintendents and teachers, and they have been 
measurably offset, in some instances, by other meas- 
ures, as the considering of the recitation record of 
pupils; but the testimony of educators, competent to 
speak, confirms the writer's experience and observa- 
tion, and shows that the above indictment of the 
system, when used for the purposes named, is sub- 
stantially true. In the very nature of things the 
coming examination with such consequences must 
largely determine the character of the prior teaching 
and study. Few teachers can resist such an influ- 
ence, and, in spite of it, teach according to their 
better knowledge and judgment. They can not feel 
free, if they would. The coming ordeal fetters them 
more or less, whatever may be their resolutions, and 
many teachers submit to it without resistance ; and 
this is sometimes true of teachers who have been 
specially trained in normal schools, and are conscious 
of the power to do much better work. They shut 



WRITTEN EXAMINA TIONS. 20 1 

their eyes to the needs of the pupil and put their 
strength into what will "count" in the examination. 

The principal of the first grammar school in one of 
the largest cities in the country once said, 

° . ^ niustrations. 

in response to the inquiry why so much 

time was devoted to the memorizing of dates in 

history and rules in mensuration : 

"My success as a teacher is measured by the per cent of correct 
answers my pupils give to the series of questions submitted in the 
examinations for promotion to the high school. Whatever qualifi- 
cations these tests call for I must produce or fail. I can not stop 
to inquire whether my instruction is right or wrong. / must pre- 
pare my wares for the market.'''' 

I have seen blackboards covered with "probable" 
questions, and classes meeting before and after school, 
to be crammed with set answers to them, as a prep- 
aration for a test examination.* I have known classes 
to memorize the names of all the bones in the human 
body, hundreds of dates in American history, and 
scores of the mechanical processes of mensuration, 
because these things were known hobbies of the ques- 



* Supt. Henry F. Harrmgton, of Massachusetts, a competent wit- 
ness, as well as one of the most thoughtful of educators, states it as 
a fact within his knowledge, that "grammar-school masters, where 
written examinations, tested by per cents, are in vogue to determine 
admissions to the hijjh schools, systematically exchange with each 
other the list of questions wliich, from time to time, are propounded 
by several school committees or superintendents for those examina- 
tions, and paste them into scrap books; then they put their long- 
suffering pupils through the whole collection, and it is cram, cram, 
cram, until every unwonted form of question has l^een tried upon 
them, and its ansvi^er drilled into their memories, so that no novelty 
shall be sprung upon them when the next corresponding ordeal 
arrives." 



202 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

tion-maker. I have known the instruction of an en- 
tire corps of grammar-school teachers to be largely 
concentrated on three or four test studies to the great 
neglect of other branches of equal, if not greater, im- 
portance. I have known principals to neglect the 
lower classes in their schools, and give their time and 
energies for weeks to the special drilling of their first 
class, the one to be subject to the comparative test for 
admission to the high school, and these pupils were 
thus fearfully overtasked. 

It is generally conceded that the evil effects of writ- 
ten examinations, above specified, are chiefly due either 
to the character of the tests or to the iiscs 

Remedies. "^ 

made of the resjilts, and this fact suggests 
certain remedies. 

I. Attention has already been called to the fact that 
school instruction and study are never much wider or 
Wide and better than the tests by which they are 
Proper Tests, measured (p. 148), and hence the impor- 
tance of making examination tests as wide as the ap- 
proved course of instruction, and, to this end, both 
oral and written tests must be employed, the one 
supplementing the other. The questions employed 
should be a test of the pupil's knowledge of subjects, 
and not of his ability to repeat words — a test of his 
power to observe, to think, to reason, and to express 
what he knows. They should place training before 
cramming, and culture before technics. It is true that 
pupils will not give as high a per cent of correct an- 
swers to such questions as they would were the tests 
confined strictly to the text- book, every one falling 
within a prescribed course of instruction ; but the 
examination will have the merit of determining the 



WRITTEN EXAMINATIONS. 203 

knowledge and power of pupils, and especially of in- 
dicating what they ought to knozv. When classes reach / 
an average of ninety per cent and upwards in a writ- j 
ten examination, the fact may be usually accepted as 1 
evidence that both tests and instruction have been 1 
grooved, or that much time has been wasted in drilling / 
the more backward pupils to the sacrifice of time and/ 
opportunity on the part of other pupils. 

2. Another remedy suggested is the entire giving 
up of the practice of using examination results to com- 
pare schools and teacJicrs. An observation of Non-compar- 
this practice for years and in different cities '"^ °^ 

. . Schools, 

has satisfied me that such comparisons are Teachers, ana 
responsible for the worst results of the ex- Pup'is. 
amination system, and this is especially true when 
tables of correct answers are published. These com^ 
parisons put a premium on special cramming and false 
teaching, and sometimes on dov/nright dishonesty. 
They are generally unjust and misleading. The teacher 
who ignores higher motives and bends all his energies 
to secure a high per cent, is rewarded, while his fel- 
low, who scorns to degrade his high calling to the 
preparing of "wares for the market," may be dis- 
counted, if not condemned. Besides, there is often a 
marked difference in the home training of pupils in 
the different school -districts of a city, in the number 
of pupils in the schools, and in other determining 
conditions for which the public, and even school offi- 
cers, make no allowance. The teachers are unjustly 
measured by the per cent table. 

I will go further and suggest that examination re- 
sults should not be used for the public comparison of 
pupils. They are chiefly for the eye of the teacher 



204 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

and superintendent, and it is sufficient if each pupil 
knows the results of his own effort. It is the practice 
in some schools to arrange the names of pupils in the 
order of their per cent standings, and then publicly 
read the hst, or post it in a conspicuous place. I have 
never seen this done without feeling that the vanity 
of certain pupils was unwisely flattered, and the feel- 
ings of other pupils unjustly wounded. It is often 
true that pupils who stand high deserve less credit 
than those whose standing is much lower. As a rule, 
examination results should be neither publicly an- 
nounced nor posted. 

I would also urge that teachers should not use a 
coming examination as an incentive to incite their 
pupils to effort, excepting, possibly, in the case of 
indifferent pupils, and then privately. The nervous 
condition of pupils on reaching an examination is often 
the result of the teacher's indiscretion in holding it 
up constantly as a coming ordeal, in talking about 
"passing," "per cents," etc., as if these were the 
supreme ends of effort. The tendency of teachers to 
use a coming examination as a whip or spur to urge 
their pupils to greater application is one of the most 
serious obstacles to be overcome in the use of the 
system. A reliance on such a help is a misfortune 
for the teacher and a wrong to the pupil. It ought 
to be recognized as a school crime for a teacher thus 
to allude to an examination. It should be permitted 
to come unheralded. There should be no fuss over it 
or in view of it. 

3. My next suggestion is that examination results 
should not be made tJie only, if the chief, basis for the 
promotion of pupils. It is now very generally conceded 



WRITTEN EXAMINATIONS. 205 

that a pupil's daily success in school work should be 
as important a factor in determining his promotion 
as the results of one or more stated ex- other Bases 
aminations, but it is urged by some that °^ Promotion, 
tlie examination papers are the best possible evi- 
dence of such daily success — that this is their design 
and import. There is truth as well as force in this 
view. The results of a proper examination will fairly 
represent the recitation success of three fourths of the 
pupils examined. I have never been much disap- 
pointed or surprised by the standing of my pupils in 
written tests. But the practical difficulty is tJic failure 
of pupils to act on this tnttJi. When promotion de- 
pends on the results of written tests, possibly of a 
single test, the desire to stand creditably is reinforced 
by the fear of a failure "to pass," and, as a result of 
these united and intensified feelings, there is nervous 
excitement, morbid anxiety, overstudy, cramming, 
and other evils. These results would be largely ob- 
viated if the pupils knew before an examination that 
their daily success in study, the chief factor in their 
promotion, was settled; that nothing could set aside or 
take the place of their recitation record. Such an 
assurance as this would make the examination less a 
bugbear and more a helpful exercise, less a deter- 
miner of future advantage and more a guide and 
stimulus to future effort. 

But how is this evidence of the pupil's daily success 
to be obtained prior to the examination ? The only 
answer is, by the recitation xvitJi its searching Recitation 
tests, the necessary accompaniment of all Record, 
successful school work ; and this brings us back to the 
importance of the recitation as a means of teaching. 



206 ELEMEN TS OF FED A GOGY. 

It is only necessary to consider briefly the manner in 
which a record of its results is to be kept. When 
the teacher is competent and trustworthy, such a 
record "keeps itself." The character of the pupil's 
daily work is carried in memory, and judgment is 
ready at any time to render a verdict. The teacher 
who can teach a class for a year or a term and not 
know the comparative success of the pupils in it, is to 
be pitied, if not retired. But most of our graded 
schools are under more or less direct personal super- 
vision. In the smaller cities this work is done by the 
superintendent, who is able to assist the teacher, when 
necessary, to a true verdict, and the numerous tests 
to which the pupils are subjected from term to term, 
afford abundant data for such a judgment. In large 
cities, the teachers are under the immediate super- 
vision of principals or local superintendents, who, in 
turn, are under the leadership of the general superin- 
tendent. Under these conditions there ought to be 
little difficulty in determining the recitation success 
of pupils, at least so far as this may be necessary to 
determine their right to promotion. 

I hesitate to recommend the marking of recitations, 
since this so seriously curtails the freedom and power 
Marking of both tcachcr and pupil, and so strongly 
System. tcuds to make the exercise text-bookish 
and narrow. It is true that this restraint is less when 
the marking is done at the close of the recitation, but 
this does not wholly remove the evil, since the thought 
of the record is present to both teacher and pupil, 
and thus restrains their freedom. At the best, there 
is little personal force or inspiration in a testing and 
recording machine (p. 175). 



WRIT TEN EX A MINA TIONS. 20/ 

In my later teaching, I have made it a practice to 
record the class standing of students at the close of 
each week and for the zveek, and I have found very 
little difficulty in making a satisfactory record. The 
keeping of such a record takes comparatively little 
time, and, what is important, the record does not con- 
front me in the recitation, and restrain needed free- 
dom and enthusiasm. A weekly record of recitations 
is entirely feasible in high schools and colleges, and a 
monthly record in elementary schools. 

But whatever may be the means by which a pupil's 
success in daily work is arrived at, the pupil should 
know whether it entitles him, so far as it goes, to 
promotion. It is neither wise nor right to permit 
pupils to go into a final examination with the feeling 
that faithful and successful work will count for naught, 
if they should happen to fall below the regulation 
"per cent" in the written test. 

4. The above suggestions are not submitted as com- 
plete remedies for all examination ills, and so I feel 
constrained to add another; viz, the non-use Radical 
of the written examination as a basis for the Remedy. 
promotion of pupils or for rczvards of any kind. This 
remedy, taken with those suggested above, is radical 
and comprehensive. It relegates the written test to 
the domain of teaching where its uses, as we have 
seen, are many and important. I am fully satisfied 
that the instruction and training in many schools, es- 
pecially in our larger cities, are in such deep exam- 
ination ruts that no remedy will suffice but the non- 
use, temporary at least, of the system. Its evils have 
become chronic and self-perpetuating. They permeate 
the schools, and only a radical treatment will suffice. 



208 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

It is admitted that a good degree of uniformity of 
attainment is essential to the proper classification of 
Uniformity pupils, but it is believcd that this can be 
and System. gg(,^j-ed without the iisc of Stated promotion 
examinations; and if there should be some loss in thor- 
oughness of classification, this would be much more than 
made good by desirable gains in other directions.* The 
most pressing need of many deeply rutted schools is 
deliverance from the dominancy of routine and mech- 
anism, such a vigorous shaking up as will prepare the 
way for a general movement away from rote and rut 
work to freer and more rational teaching and study, 
and more vital and inspiring* supervision. If in this 
limbering and loosening process, the "system" should 
be disturbed a little and some items in its elaborate 
courses of instruction should be "knocked into pi," 
to use a printer's phrase, no serious harm would be 
done, and especially if accompanied by an inspiring 
call of teachers to higher and more thoughtful work. 
Uniformity and system are excellent, but in education 
it may be possible to have too much of these good 
things. A little loss in these directions would not, I 
am sure, cause the intelligent patrons of the schools 
to mourn, whatever may be true of the devoted wor- 
shipers of these presiding deities of the modern school. 
Besides, whenever the point of danger is reached, the 
written examination would always be available to 
check looseness and restore uniformity and system. 

* The experience of a considerable number of cities, with excel- 
lent schools, shows that pupils can be safely promoted by the prin- 
cipal or superintendent on the judgment of teachers, and it has 
been suggested that when a teacher is in doubt, or a parent feels 
that injustice has been done in the non-promotion of his child, the 
case can readily be settled by subjecting the pupil to an examination. 



WRITTEN EXAMINATIONS. 20g 

It seems unnecessary to add that it is not proposed 
to dispense with examinations for teaching purposes ; 
z. e., examinations instituted for the one purpose of 
testing the results of instruction and study as a means 
of improving them. The remedy proposed is the non- 
use of the results of stated examinations as a basis for 
the promotion of pupils, not the non-use of teaching 
tests. * 



"■■•■When this book was written (1886), the use of the results of 
stated written examinations as a basis for the promotion of pupils 
was general in the graded schools in the United States. At this 
writing (1893) pupils are promoted on the estimates or judgment of 
teachers in many cities, including nearly a score of the largest cities 
in the country; and many other cities make the teacher's judgment a 
considerable, if not chief, element in the promotion basis. The testi- 
mony is conclusive that the non-use of promotion examinations has 
been attended with a gratifying improvement in the spirit of the 
schools, in less mechanical and more rational teaching, and in the 
attainment of better results; and, where the estimate plan has been 
intelligently administered, there has been no loss in classification. 

For a full discussion of this subject, the reader is referred to a 
monograph, entitled " Promotions and Examinations in Graded 
Schools," prepared by the author in 1891 for the United States 
Bureau of Education. This monograph will be sent free to any one 
who may apply to the U. S. Commissioner of Education, Washing- 
ton, D. C. 



W. P.— 18 



210 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 



VU^ A^i Ni'-^V ^^ ' OJ^X-^^^V^ 



THE TEACHER'S PREPARATION. 

All that has been said respecting the principles and 

methods of teaching has presupposed the presence 

of a skillful and wise teacher. A method 

The Teacher. 

is but an orderly mechanism ; its efficiency 
depends on what the teacher puts into it, and a teacher 
can never put into a method what he does not pos- 
sess. In the last analysis, the vital element in teaching 
is the teacher. He is the soul of his methods and 
measures. If he is weak, they will be weak ; if he is 
potent, they will be potent. It follows that children 
can not be properly educated by going through the 
forms of a philosophic system of teaching. The knowl- 
edge to be taught may be wisely selected and ar- 
ranged, the successive steps may follow each other in 
natural order, and the entire mechanism may work 
w^ith beautiful precision, and yet if the whole be not 
vitalized by the living teacher, the system will be a 
comparative failure. The more scientific a system of 
teaching may be, the more essential is the teacher. A 
routine of mere book lessons may be conducted by a 
blind plodder, who can turn a recitation crank, but a 
system of teaching that has for its grand aim the right 
unfolding and training of the mind and heart, requires 
the insight, the invention, the skill, the inspiration of 
a master in the teacher's office. We have been slow 
to learn that philosophic methods of teaching are only 
practicable to those who have some insight into their 
guiding principles. 



THE TEACHER'S PREPARATION. 211 

In the light of these facts it is obvious that the 
teacher must come before his classes prepared to meet 
the high requirements of his art, and that Daily 
this involves careful preparation — a prepa- Preparation, 
ration as wide as his duties. It should include not 
only a general prior preparation for the teacher's office, 
but in addition a daily preparation for every exercise. 
This daily preparation is quite as essential for the rec- 
itation as for the lesson, and the highest and most 
fruitful teaching is not possible without it. 

The teacher's preparation should include — 
I. A tJiorougli and fresh knowledge of the sidiject- 
matter of the lesson. He must have the subject in 
mind not in dim and shadowy outline, but ^ , ^ , 

-' ' Knowledge of 

in bold relief, with every essential fact and subjects 
principle clear and distinct. His knowl- ^"^ 
edge must not only be systematic, but/;r^/^ — the re- 
sult of recent study. In the presence of his class the 
teacher has no time for attempts to recall the half- 
forgotten results of past study, or to pursue some 
new idea or suggestion to see whether it be truth or 
fiction, substance or shadow. Every power and energy 
of his soul is required to search through the minds 
of his pupils, to test the results of their study, and so 
to order his tests as to make the pupils' knowledge 
clearer, deepen their impressions, and make their view 
of the subject as a whole more distinct and permanent. 
All this requires special preparation — the interesting, 
informing, and invigorating of the mind by daily study. 
A young teacher once asked President Garfield, then 
of Hiram College, the secret of the art of arousing 
and holding the attention of pupils. The wise answer 
was; "See to it that you do not feed your pupils on 



2 1 2 ELEMEN TS OF FED A GOGY. 

cold victuals. Take the lesson into your own mind 
anew, rethink it, and then serve it hot and steaming, 
and your pupils will have an appetite for your in- 
struction," and you will have their attention. 

When pupils use a particular text-book as the basis 
of their study, the teacher must make himself as fa- 

use of miliar with the book thus used as he desires 
Text-book. ]-jjg pupjls to bc, Otherwise he will not be 
able to give needed preparatory instruction wisely, to 
assign lessons properly, or to test the results of their 
study in the most effective manner. For the last pur- 
pose, he must not only know what is presented in the 
book for the pupil's mastery, but the order in which 
it is presented. It is not meant that the teacher 
should slavishly follow this order in unfolding the les- 
son, or that he should hold the pupil to the mastery 
of all the facts presented. . Lessons should be so as- 
signed as to relieve the pupil from the study of the 
unimportant facts which crowd so many text- books. 

As a rule the teacher's knowledge of each lesson 
should be so familiar and accurate that he does not 
need to use a book in giving instruction or in con- 
ducting a recitation. The justifiable exceptions to this 
rule are in exercises in reading, spelling, the assigning 
of problems, etc. — exercises in which the text must 
be used as the basis. There are few practices in our 
schools more pernicious than the slavish use of the 
book in teaching pupils. It reduces the teacher to a 
sort of machine, places an obstruction between him 
and his pupils, represses enthusiasm, and renders the 
lesson or recitation mechanical and lifeless. A depend- 
ence on the text to determine the correctness of the 
pupils' answers is an evidence of incompetency too 



THE TEA CHER'S PREPARA TION. 2 1 3 

palpable to be justified. It may be accepted as a 
general fact that the miniimim of a teacher's use of a 
book in giving lessons and conducting recitations will 
be the maxuniim of his success. The teacher should 
come before his classes with a full mind, a free hand, 
and a free eye. 

2. The teacher's special preparation must also in- 
clude the determining of tJie prviciplcs to be observed 
and the methods to be cniploycd in each lesson Principles 
or recitation. All that has been said in the ^"'^ Methods. 
preceding pages shows that the teaching of pupils 
involves a clear knowledge of their mental condition 
and ability, the nature of the knowledge to be taught, 
the proper methods of presenting such knowledge to 
the mind, the drill needed to deepen the impression 
and impart skill, etc. ; and it follows that the consid- 
eration of these and other questions is a necessary 
part of the preparation required to teach successfully 
a given subject, or to conduct any teaching exercise. 
It is not possible to adopt a uniform method for the 
teaching of the successive lessons or subjects that 
make up a branch of study. Inductive knowledge 
must be taught in one way, and deductive knowledge 
in another. One lesson is best taught analytically, 
and another by synthesis. One lesson involves pri- 
mary concepts that must be taught objectively, and 
another involves an appeal to and exercise of the 
imagination. The teacher can not take a step wisely 
until he knows just zvliat he is to teach, since it is 
only in the light of this knowledge that he can deter- 
mine the particular methods to be employed. There 
are determining questions to be considered in connec- 
tion with the teaching of every lesson, and these can 



2 1 4 ELEMENTS OF FED A GOGY. 

not be answered once for all. They will recur every 
time the subject is to be taught, and with varying 
answers, for conditions not only change but insight 
and skill increase from day to day. The experience 
of yesterday throws its light on the work of to-day 
and the preparation for to-morrow. Skill in teaching 
can only be acquired by practice under the guidance 
of knowledge, and this guiding knowledge should be 
widened and verified by daily experience and study. 
Nor can the teacher in his preparation overlook those 
details which make up what may be termed the mech- 
anism of class management, as the best mode of call- 
ing out and dismissing a class, the proper position for 
pupils to assume when reciting, etc., etc. 

3. When teaching involves the direction of book 
study by pupils and the testing of results, the teach- 
Assignment cr's daily preparation must determine the 
of Lessons, proper assignment of lessons — a m'ost impor- 
tant duty. Much of the aimless study of pupils is due 
to the fact that the ends to be reached have not been 
clearly set before the mind. The knowing of what to 
do is no small part of the doing of it, and it is not 
much too strong to say that a lesson properly assigned 
is half mastered. The writer has sometimes gone so 
far as to claim that a very good estimate of a teacher's 
skill can be based on the manner in which he assig-ns 
lessons or tasks. 

The proper assignment of a lesson involves a consid- 
eration of (i) the ability and advancement of a class, 
(2) the time available for study, and (3) the nature 
of the lesson. The frequent assignment of lessons 
which are beyond the pupils' ability to master, is sure 
to break down the spirit of study in any school. In 



TMJ^. TEA CHER' S PRE PAR A TION. 2 1 5 

order to assign a lesson properly the teacher must 
know what it contains, and be able to estimate both 
the amount and degree of mental effort required to 
master it. He must also know the mental condition 
of his pupils and the time which they can conven- 
iently and wisely give to its preparation. Then the 
lesson should be assigned definitely, and the require- 
ments of the recitation be clearly stated. 

It may be added that a faithful daily preparation, for 
class exercises will increase the teacher's personal in- 
fluence, heighten the interest and effort of his pupils, 
lighten the burden of their government, keep the 
teacher's mind fresh and vigorous, and promote his 
bodily health. It is believed that where there is one 
teacher in our schools failing in health on account of 
daily preparation for teaching, there are ten teachers 
failing for the want of it. Worry is the cause of more 
pale faces among teachers than work, and preparation 
for skillful and wise teaching is a good recipe for 
worry. 



METHODS OF TEACHING READING, 

LANGUAGE, GEOGRAPHY, AND 

ARITHMETIC. 



W. p. — IQ. 



(217) 



METHODS OF TEACHING SPECIAL 
BRANCHES. 



It is the design of these pages to present methods 
of teaching particular branches as practical applica- 
tions and illustrations of the principles and general 
methods of teaching previously considered. These 
special methods will not be given in detail for teachers 
to copy, but in clear outline and with sufficient full- 
ness to guide intelligent teachers in determining the 
details of instruction. 

READING. 

When the child enters school, say at six years of 
age, he has a considerable stock of concepts and ideas 
acquired by observation, experience, and home in- 
struction, and also a vocabulary of associated words 
which express and recall this knowledge. He has 
also discerned many of the relations between known 
objects, and has acquired more or less skill in ex- 
pressing these facts in oral language, and much 
greater skill in apprehending them when thus ex- 
pressed by others. He has also become familiar with 
many spoken words which either do not express any 

definite concepts or ideas or are associated with wrong 

(219) 



220 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

ones (page 88). If brought up in an intelligent 
family, the child at this age has learned nursery 
rhymes, ditties, passages of Scripture, moral maxims 
and sayings, prayers, etc., all of which have given 
him a familiarity with many words in combination 
which, when used separately, express to him very 
vague ideas, if any. 

It is thus seen that the child enters school with a 

stock of clear concepts and ideas, and their associated 

Prm r words, but possibly with a still larger vo- 

Pupii's cabulary of words which are either not 

Condition. . , . , , 

associated with clear concepts or express 
wrong ones ; and that he also has some skill in the 
expression of what he knows and feels, in oral lan- 
guage. 

It seems obvious that the first steps taken in teach- 
ing a child to read should recognize tJie above facts, 
and that the first aim should be to teach the child to 
recognize by the eye words which he knows by the 
ear; /. e., to know words ^.% forms which he already 
knows as sounds. It is evident that the task of asso- 
ciating the printed word with the spoken word, so 
that the seeing of the former will call to mind the 
latter, is the simplest possible when the spoken word 
is already known and familiar. 

It follows that the first duty of the primary teacher 
is to ascertain the mental condition and knowledge of 
Teacher's her pupils — to Icam the "contents" of 
Duty. their minds, if this be preferred — as a 
starting-point and basis for their instruction, and, in 
case several children are to be taught together, it is 
important to ascertain what concepts and words they 



READING. 221 

may know in common; and just here the teacher's 
chief difficulty begins. The children who sometimes 
crowd into a primary school, represent very diverse v' 
surroundings and home training. Some have a large 
vocabulary of words ; others a meager stock, and 
these the simplest, often representing blurred con- ' 
cepts. Some can talk intelligently about many things ; 
others have the ability to speak but a few simple sen- 
tences. If the children represent, as is often the 
case, both city life and country life, their differences 
in knowledge and speech will be still more marked. 
The country child will know many objects and their 
names, and many facts concerning these objects, of 
which the city child is ignorant; and, on the con- 
trary, the city child will have a stock of concepts, 
facts, and words, of which the country child knows 
nothing. But whatever may be the difficulties in- 
volved, the tcacJicr must knotv her pitpils as a first and 
necessary condition of their right instruction. 

First Steps in Reading. 

What has been said above leads to the conclu- 
sion that the first lessons in reading must be deter- 
mined by the living teacher in view of the Blackboard 
knowledge and condition of her pupils, LeSstmsr^ 
and, to this end, tJie kssons should he given by the use of 
the blackboard. No chart or primer can take the place 
of crayon and board in these beginning exercises, 
and the only wise use that can be made of chart or 
primer is to supplement the board lessons. The most 
of the current charts and primers were prepared from 
the stand-point of the country child, and, as a result, 



222 ELEMENTS OF FED A GOGY. 

they contain concepts and facts quite foreign to the 
child whose days have been spent in the city ; and, 
when this is not the case, the vocabulary of selected 
words is not the best for the teacher's purpose. But 
were the charts admirably adapted in matter to the 
pupils, there are still good reasons for the use of the 
blackboard. The words written before the eyes of 
pupils have an interest to them that no chart words 
can have, and they are more easily learned. 

The use of the blackboard involves the question 
whether print or script, or both, should be used. If 
neither print-charts nor primer is to be used for a few 
weeks, it would seem best for the teacher to use 
script in her blackboard lessons, and to teach her 
pupils from the start to write. If script-charts are 
used, the pupils should write. When the proper time 
comes, the transition from script to print can be 
quickly made, as many experiments fully show, the 
similarity between script and print words greatly les- 
sening the supposed difficulty. If, however, print- 
charts or primers are to be used in these first lessons, 
then both teacher and pupils should print, the reason 
being obvious. 



Words exist as sounds and as forms, the first ap- 
pealing to the ear and the second to the eye, and the 
first step in teaching a child to read is to teach him 
the written or printed forms of say thirty to forty 
words well known to the child as sounds or spoken 
words, and representing clear concepts or ideas. The 
words selected for this purpose should be the names 
of things, actions, and other phenomena that will 



READING. 223 

interest the child and thus afford a basis for interest- 
ing talks between teacher and pupils. It is not 
necessary or best to select only short phonetic words ; 
they should be "children's words." The thing next 
to be done is to associate one by one the known 
spoken words with the unknown written words or 
forms, so that when the eye sees the latter, the con- 
cept or idea of the former and the related object will 
be instantly and certainly recalled. 

How can this best be done ? The spoken words 
have all been learned by the child as rvJioles, and this 
fact is the key to the teaching of the word 
written words. They should be taught as Method. 
wJiolcs and in the most direct and simple manner possible. 
An attempt to teach them through their elements, 
whether sounds or letters, makes a simple process 
complex, and hinders the inseparable association of the 
written word with the spoken word and thus with the 
objects which they denote. Both reason and ex- 
perience confirm this statement. 

If the words to be taught as wholes have been 
wisely selected, there will be no necessity of present- 
ing the actual objects, since they are use of 
already inseparably associated with the objects, 
sounds, but, since the presence of the object is always 
an excitant or stimulus to the mind, it may be well 
to teach each written word by first presenting the 
object or its picture, or by such questions or conver- 
sation as will occasion its clear recall in memory. 
This will make the concept back of the spoken word 
vivid, and thus greatly assist the mind in associating 
the same with the written word. It seems to me to 



224 ELEMENTS OE PEDAGOGY. 

be an error to attempt to associate the object directly 
and immediately with the written word. It is already 
associated with the spoken word, and the natural pro- 
cedure is to use the spoken word in associating the 
object with the written word. The pupils should 
speak the word taught before it is written by the 
teacher on the board, and thus the crayon will "talk" 
after the pupils. The natural order of these steps is 
(i) the concept (object, if needed), (2) the spoken 
word, and (3) the written word. If the concept back 
of the spoken word be not clear and vivid, the object 
or its picture should be presented. 

When the pupils have thus been taught the written 

word, they should ne.xt be taught to write it on their 

slates. It is not enough for a child to 

Writing. ^ 

hear a spoken word ; he must also speak 
it. It is, in like manner, not enough for a child to 
see a written word ; he must also write it. The draw- 
ing or making of the form not only makes clear but 
fixes the "picture" of it in the mind. This involves 
the teaching of young pupils to write, and this will re- 
quire skill on the part of the teacher. We forbear 
to make any suggestions. 

As soon as two or more words that can be com- 
bined in a phrase or sentence have been taught, they 
Words should be thus combined, and the pupils 
Combined, taught to read the resulting phrase or sen- 
tence. The articles a, an, and the should be early 
taught and used in connection with names of things; 
as, a boy, a good boy, the sun, the bright sun, an ox, 
an old man, etc. The pupils should be trained from 
the first to speak these articles as if they were un- 



READING. 225 

accented syllables of the words with which they are 
connected. When is and are, and such action-words 
as run, fly, sing, etc., are taught, they should be used 
in making sentences. All these phrases and senten- 
ces should be read in a natural and easy manner, as 
much so as in talking. 

The teaching of new written words as wholes, and 
then combining them in sentences, should be con- 
tinued iDitil the child has learned the art of ...... 

''taking in " a short sentence at a glance, and word 
then reading it zuith ease and natiiralness. 
This is the foundation of the art of reading the 
printed page, and the sooner it is gained the better. 
Until this fundamental skill is acquired, there can be 
no true reading. This may require the teaching of 
one hundred or more common words, and the writing 
on the board of many scores of little sentences com- 
posed of them, and even paragraphs, and the " calling 
out " from the pupils of hundreds of oral sentences, 
thus making a beginning in the art of verbal expres- 
sion or language. 

Some teachers prefer to begin with the written sen- 
tence as a v/hole, then teaching the words of which 
it is composed, and this has been called the sentence 
method. It can doubtless be used successfully by a 
skillful teacher, but whatever advantage it may have, 
can be secured by the use of the oral sentence. 
When the pupils have been led to use the word in a 
sentence, it may then be written on the board, and, 
being written by itself, it Avill make a clearer impress 
on the mind than if written with other words. Nearly 
every new word taught should be used by the pupils. 



226 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

often several times, in phrases and sentences, and this 
is easily secured. The reading lesson of the child 
should be eminently a talking lesson. 

While the pupil is thus learning written words as 
wholes, and is reading with increasing skill sentences 

Phonic composed of them, the teacher should 

Drills. begin to make him familiar with the ele- 
mentary sounds that make up spoken words. Up to 
this time, the child may not have been conscious of 
the fact that the words which he speaks so easily are 
made up of several sounds, much less that these can 
be separated by the voice, and thus be distinctly 
recognized. 

In these first phonic exercises, the teacher should 
appeal solely to the ear. TJicre should be ?io reference 
whatever to the zu n't ten or /printed ivords. The object 
with which the pupil is dealing is a sound, and the 
eye can render no assistance. 

The training may begin by drilling the pupils in the 
recognition of words whcji slowly pronounced, the sound 
elements being sufficiently separated to be easily rec- 
ognized as parts, as in-a-n, t-o-p, etc., and soon by re- 
quiring the pupils to repeat the same. The separation 
may next be made so great as to produce the ele- 
ments as distinct sounds. A few moments of lively 
drill each day will soon enable the )^oungest pupils 
to catch a spoken word in the "conscious ear," and 
separate it into its elements with great ease and ac- 
curacy ; and also to combine sounds given by the 
teacher into the spoken word of which they may be 
the elements. The first of these processes is called 
the phonic analysis of words, and the second phonic 
synthesis. 



READING. ' 227 

The next step (to be deferred until the primer is 
reached) is to associate the phonic elements with the 
letters; /. c, to teach the sounds which the Elementary 
several letters represent. This is readily Sounds, 
done by selecting from the words already taught those 
which are purely phonetic, at first selecting those with 
short vowels, and arranging them in classes, those 
containing one or more common elements being 
grouped together; as, (i) mat, cat, sat, hat, bat, fat, 
an, fan, ran, can, cap, sad ; (2) pen, men, hen, pet, 
met, set, bell, red ; (3) in, pin, bin, tin, skin, it, bit, 
sit, hit, lip, pig ; (4) ox, box, fox, top, cot, dog ; (5) 
sun, run, gun, fun, up, cup, tub, mug, rub, nut, cut, 
etc. 

Words containing the long vowels may next be 
taken, as lame, tame, mane, face, race, late, hate, etc., 
and then simple words containing the other vowels. 

In an incredibly short time the elementary sounds 
will be so associated with the related letters that 
pupils will be able "to make out" and phonic 
pronounce new written or printed words. Method. 
and when this power is acquired, the teaching of 
words as wholes should give place to the phonic method 
of learning words. This will be easy when the new 
words contain no silent letters or letters with unusual 
sounds, and nearly one half of the words in an ordi- 
nary primer are purely phonetic. About one half of 
the remaining words present no special difficulty, even 
to a child, and this is true when neither phonic type, 
as Leigh's, nor diacritical marks are used. The indi- 
cating of the sounds of letters by modified type or 
marks may assist the pupil in pronouncing particular 
words, but experience does not conclusively show that 



228 EL EM EN TS OF FED A GOGY. 

it gives the pupil increased power to read non- 
phonic type.* 

There are two difficulties in the phonic analysis of 

words which are worthy of notice in this connection. 

One pertains to vowels which are modified 

Difficulties. . • , i i- • i i i 

by coalescmtj with the liquid or subvocai 
that follows, as in fast, chance, mercy, etc. There are 
very few teachers who can give the exact sound of the 
vowel in such cases, even in combination. The other 
difficulty pertains to obscure vowels in unaccented 
syllables, as in primer, creator, error, honor, lesson, 
etc. The vowel sound in such syllables (what there is 
of it) so blends with the liquid that it is very difficult 
to separate them and not change either sound. Such 
syllables should not be analyzed by young pupils. 

This remark suggests the importance of giving early 
attention to the syllabic analysis of words so useful 
in making out and pronouncing new words. When 
a pupil recognizes the syllables of a word at a glance, 
there is little profit, the vocal drill excepted, in 
analyzing the word into its elements, f There is much 
time wasted in our schools in analyzing many times 
words and syllables that present no difficulty what- 



* When the pupil is somewhat familiar with the phonic synthesis 
of new words, it will greatly assist him in associating certain sounds 
of letters in combination if words presenting ihese are written on 
the board in columns. A column of words with short a, and a 
parallel column of words with long a, a column with initial c hard, 
and a parallel column with initial c soft, etc., will be very helpful. 

fThis remark calls attention to the importance of paying careful 
attention to the syllables in oral or letter spelling. The modern 
practice of simply naming the letters of a word in succession, without 
reference to its division into syllables, is objectionable. The syllable 
is an important element. 



READING. 229 

ever. The phonic analysis of words should frequently 
give place to syllabic analysis. 

It is sometimes claimed that the phonic method of 
teaching words makes poor spellers, since it begets a 
tendency to follow the phonic elements of 

. . Spelling. 

the word in writing ; and this claim seems 
to be sustained by the fact, noted by Dr. Thomas 
Hill and others, that deaf and dumb children, with 
equal practice, spell better in writing than speaking 
children. Their attention is given exclusively to the 
words as forms. Whatever may be true of the ten- 
dency referred to, it should be fully offset by the prior 
attention given to words as forms by the word method, 
and the constant reproduction of these forms in writ- 
ing words — both supplemented by skillful drills in oral 
spelling. The phonic analysis should be succeeded 
by letter analysis, and the spelling of words as forms, 
both by writing and orally, should receive constant 
and persistent attention. 

It has not been deemed best to state where the 
transition should be made from script to print, or 
when or how the charts may be used. script to 
These and other like details will depend ^'■'"'• 
more or less on circumstances, and can be wisely de- 
termined only by the teacher. It must suffice to say 
that if the blackboard and chart lessons be thoroughly 
taught, the pupils will thus master between one hun- 
dred and two hundred words, and will read hundreds 
of little sentences expressing interesting facts within 
their easy grasp. This done, they will be prepared 
to take the primer and read its beautiful 

' _ Primer. 

pages with delight, provided always that 



230 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

they are not permitted to stumble over words. The 
words in the primer should be taught with the same 
thoroughness as the new written words in previous 
lessons, but with increasing attention to the making 
out of the word from its elements. 

It will be seen that the method of teaching reading 
above described unites what are known as the word, 
Union phonic, and letter methods, also objective, 
Method. ^j-jj jj-j ^ limited sense phonetic, and hence 
it may properly be called the Union method. The 
manner in which these several processes or steps are 
united is shown in the following outline analysis: 



First Steps in 
Reading. 



f I. Concept or idea represented — 
objective. 

I. ^ovAs as -ziiholes ■'. 2. Words as sounds. 

3. Words as forms — script or print. 
(^ 4. Writing words — script or print. 

( I. Groups or phr.Tses. 

II. Words in combination.. -! 2. Sentences. 

(_ 3. I'aragraphs. 

III. Word analysis \ '■ Words as sounds-phonic. 

*• •' (.2. Words as forms— letter. 



Reading Drills in Second Reader. 

Most of the more recent manuals of methods seem 
to take it for granted that if reading be properly 
taught the first year, there will be little difficulty in 
the subsequent years of the course. It is true that a 
right beginning in this branch is specially important, 
but the experience of the schools shows that the 
teaching of reading after the first year also demands 
the highest teaching skill and endeavor. Indeed, all 
that precedes the use of the First Reader is but a prep- 



READING. 231 

aration for the mastery of the art of reading the 
printed page. It seems important, therefore, to 
sketch a method of teaching reading in First-reader, 
Second-reader, and Third-reader grades, and it is be- 
heved that such a method can be presented with suffi- 
cient clearness from the stand-point of the Second 
Reader. 

Silent reading is the apprehension of the thoughts 
and feelings presented to the mind by written or 
printed language. Oral reading is the Reading 
vocal expression of the thoughts and feel- Defined, 
irrgs presented to the mind by written or printed lan- 
guage. The necessary condition of both silent and 
oral reading is a clear apprehension of the thought 
and feeling as presented in the language read. 

It follows from these statements that a pupil can 
not read a sentence correctly if he has not a clear 
knowledge of the words of which it is composed, such 
knowledge being essential to a grasp of the thought. 
This fact explains much of the poor success which so 
often attends the reading drills in our schools, and es- 
pecially in elementary schools. The pupils are thrust 
at once into the reading of sentences, and these are 
taken up not singly, but in paragraphs. The attempt 
is made to master the words through the reading of 
the sentences, and the result is that the words are 
neither mastered nor the sentences read. The pupils 
go stumbling and drawling through the successive 
lessons without acquiring the ability to read accurately 
and intelligently either silently or orally. It is ex- 
ceedingly painful to listen to reading when pupils thus 
hesitate and stumble over unfamiliar words. 



232 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

Tlie first step in a reading drill is the teaching of 
the words, and the more thoroughly this is done the 

Reading Hiore clearly will the pupils grasp and ex- 

Driiis. press the thought and feeling ; and this 
statement suggests that a reading drill should consist 
of two corresponding exercises, the first designed to 
secure a mastery of the zvonis, and the second a correct 
reading of soitcnces, the first being preparatory to the 
second. Let us consider these two exercises in the 
order stated. 

The mastery of a word includes the ability (i) to 
recognize or name it at sight ; (2) to utter it with 
accuracy, force, and ease ; (3) to spell or 
analyze it by sound and by letter ; and (4) 
to apprehend its meaning and to use it intelligently. 
The second result specified, and also the analysis by 
sound, are not essential to silent reading, and would 
receive no attention in teaching the deaf and dumb, 
but the pupils in our ordinary schools are to be 
taught to read orally, as well as silently, and hence all 
the results specified are important ends of a thorough 
word drill. When all the words in a sentence are 
thus mastered by a pupil, he is prepared to attempt 
to give oral expression to the thought. What we 
desire especially to urge is that this word drill should 
precede sentence reading. 

Among the various means which may be used to 
teach the words of a reading lesson, the following are 
the most valuable: 

I. Hie zvjiting of all the new words in the lesson, as 

a part of its preparation. This will greatly assist in 

the easy recognition of the words, and also 

Means. 

in learning their spelling. 



READING. 233 

2. TJie reading of the copied ivords from slate or paper 
in the class. This may be done by orally spelling the 
words, and then by pronouncing them rapidly "up 
and down." This will secure accuracy in writing or 
copying, and fluency and ease in pronouncing. Words 
which are peculiar in orthography or difficult to pro- 
nounce may be written on the board and the pupils 
drilled upon them in concert and singly. This may 
be followed by the pronouncing of the words in the 
book from right to left, taking a line each, or the 
teacher may pronounce the first word at the right, a 
pupil the next word, the teacher the next, another 
pupil the next, and so on. Instead of pronouncing 
all the words, those containing two or more syllables 
may be given, the object being to test ability to name 
words at sight. 

3. The oral spelling of the ivords in the lesson by 
sonnd and by letter. This will secure the study of the 
reading lesson, and will also enable the teacher to give 
due attention to the correct pronunciation and articu- 
lation of each word. We would urge every primary 
teacher to make this spelling exercise precede every 
exercise in reading. Special attention should be given 
to the proper division of words into syllables, and 
syllabic anal}'sis should often be used in place of 
phonic analysis. Pupils should be frequently given 
lists of words to copy, dividing the same into syllables, 
marking the accent, and indicating the sounds of let- 
ters by the use of diacritical marks. Copies of such 
lists should be made on the blackboard and the pupils 
drilled thereon. 

4. TJie teaching of the vteaning of neiv ivords by 
objects, by illustrations, by use in phrases or senten- 

W. p.— 20. 



234 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

ces, etc. The importance of this instruction has been 
so clearly and strongly set forth in preceding pages 
that nothing need be added here. 

5. The use of the zvords thus tmight, in onginal sen- 
tences, both oral and ivritten. This exercise is widely 
used in our best schools. It is not only valuable as a 
test of the pupil's knowledge of the meaning of 
words, but it is an excellent language lesson. The 
sentences thus formed should be read by the pupil, 
and subsequently examined by the teacher. 

The above exercises variously combined and modi- 
fied to suit the condition and needs of pupils, will 
obviate largely all hesitation and stumbling in the call- 
ing of words, and, at the same time, will impart to 
them such a knowledge of their meaning as will 
greatly assist in the clear comprehension of the 
thought, without which good reading is impossible. 
They may receive attention in the first part of the 
reading exercise, or each alternate exercise may be 
devoted to them. The latter plan was adopted by 
one of the most successful teachers in my acquaint- 
ance, and with excellent results. She devoted the 
forenoon exercise entirely to the words, and the after- 
noon drill to the reading of sentences. 



The words being mastered, the pupils are prepared 
to read the lesson — to grasp the thought and give it 
Reading corrcct uttcrancc. But the teacher must 
Proper. j^q|- ^^kc it for granted that no further in- 
struction is necessary. The vocal expression must be 
made at once the evidence of a clear comprehension 



READING. 235 

of the thought and the test of it. To this end the 
mind must be interested, the attention enHsted, the 
feehngs awakened, and all the involved powers of the 
soul put in an active state. This will require skillful 
work on the part of the teacher. Mere talking will 
not answer. It is possible to bury a reading lesson 
beneath a mass of miscellaneous and irrelevant talk. 
The one central aim is to give the pupil needed assist- 
ance in the grasp of the thought to be expressed. 
All instruction that does not throw light on the 
thought to be read, or prepare the pupil for its lively- 
apprehension, is now out of place. // is the pupils' 
time to talk. The teacher's first duty is to ascertain 
what they know, and in this duty the voice is to be 
taken as the test of the mind. A mistake in em- 
phasis is primarily the mind's blunder, and it must be 
corrected by giving the mind a clearer grasp of the 
thought. In this work there is a very small place for 
vocal imitation. The pupil may be able to imitate 
the teacher's utterance without grasping or appreci- 
ating the thought or feeling expressed. 

Special pains must be taken to assist the pupil in 
the reading of language that appeals to the imagina- 
tion. The reader must see with the mind's Mental 
eye the scenes which the language de- Pictures, 
scribes, and, to this end, the imagination must be 
active and responsive. Much of the dull reading in 
our schools is due to the fact that the pupils do not 
picture or appreciate what the language describes, 
and this is specially true in the reading of poetry. 

The writer once visited a school and witnessed an 
exercise in reading that forcibly illustrates this point, 



230 



ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 



as well as the necessity of teaching concepts. The 
poem read began with the stanza: 

" I wish I were a reindeer, 

To gallop o'er the snow. 
Over the fleecy Lapland drear, 
So merrily I'd go." 

The lines were read in a dull and unappreciative 
manner, and on questioning the pupils it was made 
evident that they had no idea of a reindeer or of 
Lapland, and no conception of the scene described. 
They had been repeating a jingle of words. A few 
words of instruction designed to give them clear con- 
cepts and a vivid mental picture of what the language 
describes, changed the mental condition of all, and a 
little drill secured good vocal expression. 

The nature of the reading drill in the Second 
Reader, above described, will perhaps be more clearly 
shown by the following outline analysis: 



Reading 
Drill. 



I. Preparation — 
Word Mastery. 



I. Ends or results. 



II. Sentence Reading.. 



1. Recognition of words at 

sight. 

2. Their correct and easy 

utterance. 

3. Their sound and form 

elements. 
( 4. Their meaning and use. 



1. Writing all new words. 

2. Reading copied words. 

3. Spelling by sound and 

letter. 

4. Teaching the meaning of 

words. 

5. Their use in original sen- 

tences. 



1. Grasp of thought and 

feeling. 

2. Vocal expression of 

thought and feeling. 



READING. 237 

It is not meant that all the reading exercises in an 
elementary school should be such drills as those just 
described. It is, however, urged that supplemental 
pupils should master one series of readers Reading, 
in this thorough manner. In addition, the classes 
should be supplied with supplemental readers, or 
other reading matter of like grade, and one or two 
exercises each week should be devoted to this supple- 
mental reading.* Here the fullest freedom should be 
granted. The aim should be to test increasingly the 
ability of the pupils to read intelligently without 
previous drill, to interest them in the reading of good 
books, to create in them a thirst for knowlege, and to 
inspire them with a just appreciation of the beautiful 
and true in thought and word. 

Reading Drills in Advanced Classes. 

In more advanced classes, the word drill may be 
united with the reading exercise proper, and the study 
of the selection to be read may now take a wider 
range, including not only a more critical study of 
words and a more discriminating analysis of the 
thought, but also increasing attention to figures of 
speech, historical and literary allusions, style, etc. 
While the central aim of all this instruction is to lead 
the pupil to a clearer grasp of the thought and to a 
livelier feeling, as conditions of their proper vocal ex- 
pression, it also aims to impart to him an increasing 
appreciation of good English, and greater power and 
facility in its interpretation and use. 



*This supplemental reading may also be made the basis of an 
excellent series of language exercises. 



238 ELEMENTS OF FED A GOGY. 

As a further aid in this culture, each choice selec- 
tion read should be made the basis of a practical and 
English suggestive lesson in English literature. 
Literature. Thjs instruction should not only include 
the biography of the author, but also information re- 
specting his literary productions, with home readings, 
when practicable. No pupil should be permitted to 
read the selections from the choice literature found in 
the higher readers used in the schools, and remain 
ignorant of the writers who have made English letters 
illustrious. 

There should be exercises to improve the voice — to 
increase its clearness, compass, resonance, force, etc.. 
Vocal bi^it there should be no attempt to fit tones 
Training. ^j-,j movcmcuts to passagcs by mechanical 
rules. All true vocal expression flows from the 
thought and feeling, just as the stream flows from the 
fountain. If the mind's action is sluggish, the utter- 
ance will be dull and monotonous; if the emotions 
are asleep, the tones will be lifeless. -The one essential 
condition of true reading is a baptism into the spirit 
of the selection or passage. It should, however, be 
kept in mind that while good reading requires a clear 
expression of the thought, it does not require a full 
expression of the feeling. The reader should never 
"tear a passion to tatters," whatever the actor may 
do. Reading is not acting. The most that good 
reading requires is that the feeling be clearly sug- 
gested by the voice; and the power of the voice in 
this direction is marvellous. 

Special attention should be given to the correct pro- 
nunciation of words. Words commonly mispro- 



READING. 239 

nounced should be written on the board in both 
orthographic and phonic forms, and the pronuncia- 
pupils drilled in their pronunciation. Lists *'°"- 

of such words should be added to those found in the 
selections read; and it is an excellent plan for pupils 
to copy all such words in blank books, provided for 
the purpose, the words being written in one column 
in their orthographic form, and in another in the 
phonic form, the pronunciation being indicated by 
proper syllabication and diacritical marks. These lists 
of words, commonly mispronounced, should often be 
reviewed and their correct pronunciation made familiar. 
The reading drill should necessitate the daily use of 
the dictionary, and no intelligent pupil should com- 
plete the Fourth Reader without being able to deter- 
mine the pronunciation and meaning of words from a 
standard dictionary — once a rare attainment in most 
grammar schools. 

The nature of the reading drill above described may 
be more clearly indicated by an illustrative lesson, and 
I select for the purpose the opening para- illustrative 
graph of " TJic 'Thunder Stonn," an ex- °""- 
cellent prose selection by George D. Prentice : 

" I never was a man of feeble courage. There are few scenes of 
either human or elemental strife upon which I have not looked with 
a brow of daring. I have stood in the front of the battle when the 
swords were gleaming and circling around me like fiery serpents in 
the air. I have seen these things with a swelling soul, that knew 
not, that recked not, danger. But there is something in the thunder's 
voice that makes me tremble like a child." 

The class is supposed to be composed of twenty 
pupils, numbered for convenience from one to twenty 



240 elements; of pedagogy. 

inclusive, and the instruction and drill are indicated 
Preparatory by questions and directions. The drill on 

Study. ^j^g passage should be preceded by a pre- 
paratory study of the selection as a whole, with a 
biographical study of the author, as follows : 

Who was the writer of this selection ? What do 
you know of his history? In what war did he serve 
as a cavalry officer? [The Mexican War.] What 
influential paper did he long edit? What kind of 
prose is this selection ? Who can give the story on 
which it is based ? No. 5 may do so. Did Mr. 
Prentice also write poetry? Name one or more of 
his poems. No. 7. Who can repeat a few lines 
from any one of his poems ? What is a characteristic 
feature of Mr. Prentice's style? No. 2. What do 
you see to admire in this selection ? etc. 

We are now ready to read the passage. No. 3 may 

read the first sentence. Does the writer say that he 

was never a man ? Never a man of courage ? What 

Drill does he assert ? No. 4 may read the sen- 

Proper. tcnce. What is the emphatic group of 
words? No. 3. [of feeble courage.] What is the 
emphatic word in the group ? You may now read the 
sentence again. The class may read in concert. 

What kinds of scenes are referred to in the next 
sentence? No. 10. What is meant by " strife ? " No. 
II. Give an example. What kinds of strife are spec- 
ified? No. 16. What is meant by "human" strife? 
No. 12. Give examples. What is meant by "ele- 
mental" strife? No. 20. Give examples. Name the 
four "elements" of the ancients. No. 15. What is 
the meaning of "scenes?" No. 19. What was its 
original meaning? How were these scenes looked 



READING. 241 

upon? [with a brow of daring.] What figure of 
speech is this? [Metaphor.] Would " without fear " 
express the idea as strongly? How does the "brow" 
express courage? [Here the teacher may teach and 
illustrate the effects of courage and fear on the ex- 
pression of the face.] Which is the stronger word, 
"courage" or "daring?" No. 7 may read this 
sentence. No. 15. The class in concert. No. i, the 
two sentences. No. 18. 

No. 4 may read the next sentence. "Where does 
Prentice say he has stood ? Where in the battle ? Why 
" in the front? " What is the meaning of " circling? " 
No. 6. Of "gleaming?" No. 2. What is the difference 
between "gleaming" and "flashing?" Which is the 
better word for this place ? With what are the swords 
compared? No. 14. What is the figure of speech? 
[Simile.] The meaning of "fiery?" No. 13. What is 
the emphatic group of words in the simile? No. 9 
may read the sentence. No. 17. What letter is 
silent in "swords?" No. 8. Write the word phonic- 
ally on the board. The class may pronounce it. No. 
II. No. 14. No. 16 may read the sentence; the 
three sentences. No. 13. 

No. 17 may read the next sentence. What figure 
of speech is "with a swelling soul?" No. 2. 
[Metaphor.] Why does this phrase express courage? 
Express the same idea in simple language. No. 12. 
[without fear.] Which is the stronger expres- 
sion? Which is the stronger Avord, "knew" or 
"recked?" No. 18. What is the meaning of 
recked? The original meaning? No. 19 may read 
the sentence. No. 20 may read to the first comma ; 
the closing part of the sentence. What is the em- 



242 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

phatic word in the closing part? No. ii. In the 
first part? Class may read the sentence. 

What change of feeling is indicated by the closing 
sentence? No. 5. Read the sentence. What word 
is the hinge on which the vocal expression turns ? 
Class. [But.] What is meant by the "thunder's 
voice?" No. 10. What figure of speech is this? 
[Personification.] Why is "voice" a better word 
here than peal or roar? Note the beauty of referring 
to the thunder as a person. What figure of speech is 
"like a child?" [Simile.] Why is the comparison a 
good one ? No. 6 may read the closing sentence ; 
the two closing sentences together. No. i may read 
the entire passage. No. 9 may read it. 

These questions indicate very imperfectly the in- 
struction and drill that may be based on this simple 
paragraph. It is seen that question and drill go hand 
in hand. The one picks the thought out of its verbal 
husk and kindles the feeling, and the other gives 
them proper utterance. It is evident that reading 
thus taught must enlarge the pupil's vocabulary, 
increase his command of language, train the voice, 
elevate the taste, sharpen the intellect, and refine and 
ennoble the feelins^s. 



LANGUAGE. 243 



LANGUAGE. 

The ability to express knowledge in correct, clear, 
and cogent language is one of the best results of 
school training. This fact has not only been recognized 
in these pages in many ways, but it has been accepted 
and applied as one of the prime tests of method and 
practice. It has been taught that every teaching ex- 
ercise should enlarge the pupil's vocabulary, increase 
his power to express what he knows clearly and cor- 
rectly, and enhance his appreciation of this power as 
worthy of his best efforts. It has been shown that 
both the lesson and the recitation should require full- 
ness and clearness of expression, should correct errors 
and secure accuracy — in short, that they should be 
made a practical drill in the use of language, oral and 
written. 

The fact has also been recognized that the schools 
must go further and provide, in addition, a separate 
and systematic course of training in language, with 
,skill in its use as a distinct end. A quarter of a cen- 
tury ago it was necessary to advocate this duty and 
urge its importance upon teachers and school officers. 
Happily this necessity no longer exists, and it only 
remains to sketch for the guidance of the inexperi- 
enced those methods of teaching language that have 
stood the test of actual use. To this end, I have se- 
lected from the language exercises used in the best 
schools those that have impressed me most favorably, 
and have attempted to arrange and present these in a 
natural and progressive order. In determining this 



244 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

order, it has been accepted as a guiding principle that, 
in teaching language as an art, synthesis should pre- 
cede analysis, that the facts of language should precede 
its rules, and hence that practical composition should 
precede technical graonmar. 

The entire series of exercises, the purely mechanical 
excepted, embodies the principle that all fruitful train- 
ing in language must begin with the thought and end 
with its expression (p. 129), and hence that the first 
step is to see that the pupil has knowledge to express. 
The exceptions are the exercises designed to give the 
child skill in those mechanical forms which are a part 
of written language, this mechanical phase of training 
being preparatory to expression proper. 

The most practical and fruitful principle embodied 
in the series is expressed by the maxim : ' ' Talking 
before 7vnti/ig." The first language lesson given a little 
child in school, as well as in the nursery, should be 
one in talking, and all through the elementary course 
the tongue should prepare the way for the pen. The 
special weakness of much of the language instruction 
in the schools has its source in a violation of this 
guiding principle. Young pupils are expected to ex- 
press on paper what they have not expressed orally, 
and often what they can not thus express. ' ' Good 
habits of speech," says Professor March, "are caught 
rather than taught." Conversation should afford chil- 
dren needed opportunity to catch the art of talking, 
and especially should conversation be made the road 
to composition. 

It follows that the written exercises in an elementary 
language course should be developed orally, and the 
knowledge acquired first expressed in clear and beauti- 



LANGUAGE. 245 

ful speech — a fact that will appear in the lessons below. 
There should also be exercises in the upper grades 
specially designed to impart to pupils readiness, ac- 
curacy, and elegance in the oral expression of thought. 
The practice in a few schools of setting apart some 
twenty minutes each week for tJie tellbig of the news 
affords an excellent training in speaking. The pupils' 
aim should be not merely to give the information, but 
to tell it in the best possible manner. A similar train- 
ing is afforded by the practice of reviewing studies by 
general topics (p. 182), the pupils being required to 
rise, face the class or school, and tell what they know 
in brief talks. 

I. Primary Series — Preparatory. 

1. Writing zvords and sentences. This is the first 
written step, and should be taken nearly, if not quite, 
as early as the first lesson in reading. The first words 
taught should not only be written by the teacher on 
the blackboard, but also by the pupils on their slates. 
In like manner, each new word should be introduced 
by crayon and pencil, and not only as a means of 
teaching reading (p. 224), but to impart early skill in 
writing. The first sentences written by the child 
should begin with a capital letter and end with the 
proper punctuation mark.^ 

2. Copyitig maxims, proverbs, stanzas of poetry, etc. 
The object of this step is to make the pupil familiar with 



"■In these and all subsequent exercises, careful attention is to be 
given to spelling, capitalization, punctuation, the forming of com- 
pound words, the division of words at the end of line, etc. Errors 
in the use of words should be persistently corrected. 



246 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

the written form of language. The maxims and prov- 
erbs should be written on the blackboard, and then 
neatly copied by the pupil. The copying of a para- 
graph of the reading lesson each day will afford addi- 
tional exercises. Stanzas and even short ^Dieces of 
poetry may be selected for the purpose. A little 
encouragement from the teacher will cause children to 
take great pleasure in these copying exercises. At- 
tention should be given to the proper use of capital 
letters and punctuation marks. 

3. Writing sentences dictated by the teacher and mem- 
orized by the pupil. In the preceding exercises the 
pupil has had the written or printed model before 
him. Now that which is addressed to the ear^ is to 
be placed in proper form before the eye. This is a 
step in advance, and it should be carefully taken. 
Each sentence must commence with a capital letter 
and end with the proper punctuation mark, the words 
must be correctly spelled, and the whole neatly ar- 
ranged and written. Not only original sentences, but 
instructive maxims, verses of scripture, etc., may be 
given, the pupils being required to repeat the same 
in concert and singly until they can do so with accu- 
racy and ease. It is well for children, even at this 
early age, to begin the task of enriching the mind 
with little gems of wisdom and beauty, so abundant in 
literature. 

4. Writing sentences expressing facts observed. The 
pupil is now required to construct as well as copy 
sentences. The facts which he is led to observe are 
first expressed orally, and then written neatly and cor- 
rectly on the slate. The starting-point is an object 
lesson, that is, a lesson in observing ; the end is sen- 



LANGUAGE. 24/ 

tence- making, and this is believed to be one of the 
highest uses of object lessons. They are the fountains 
out of which speech and composition now. The 
pupil may first express each fact observed in a sepa- 
rate sentence; as, "The chalk is white," "The chalk 
is round," "The chalk is hard," "The chalk is brit- 
tle." He may next be taught to express these sev- 
eral facts in one sentence ; as, " The chalk is white, 
round, hard, and brittle." These lessons may take a 
wide range, but they should always be brief and sim- 
ple. The written exercise should not exceed four or 
five sentences, in one paragraph. The aim should be 
to interest the pupils in the object, and to make them 
very familiar with the facts observed and their oral 
expression before they. attempt to write the same. 

5. Writing descriptions of preseiit actions. This is 
similar to the preceding, but calls into exercise not 
only the power of observation, but also of memory. 
The teacher may perform several acts, and then re- 
quire the children to tell her what she did. If not 
well described, she may repeat the actions, and thus 
give the pupils another opportunity. The aim should 
be to secure close observation and accurate telling of 
what occurred. A pupil may be asked to step before 
the school, and by his actions give the pupils some- 
thing to see and tell. 

6.' VVritijig sentences containing one or more given words. 
This step may embrace two classes of exercises. In 
the first the pupil is required to use properly, in sen- 
tences, words selected from his reading lessons. Sup- 
pose the words selected to be "fragrant," "fleece," 
and "tossed." The pupil writes, "New hay is very 
fragrant," "My lamb has a snowy fleece," "The boy 



248 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

tossed the fish into the water." This is an excellent 
method of teaching the meaning of words. In the 
second class of exercises the teacher gives two or more 
words, and the pupil constructs a sentence containing 
them. Suppose the words given to be "skate," "ice," 
and "smooth." The pupil writes, "It is fine sport to 
skate on the smooth ice." The sentences should be 
first given orally, and then in writing. We have seen 
a primary school wrought up to the highest pitch 
of enthusiasm by this simple exercise. The teacher 
scarcely completed the writing of the last word before 
a forest of little hands indicated that the sentences 
were ready. 

In more advanced classes, this exercise may be em- 
ployed to familiarize pupils with the nature and use of 
prefixes and affixes. The following sentences selected 
from an actual exercise on the word "form" will illus- 
trate: "I form a piece of clay into a tube," "Vanity 
deforms the mind," "I ought to reform myself every 
day," "The caterpillar transforms itself into a chrys- 
alis, "I perform on the piano with my fingers," "I 
conform to the wishes of my parents," "I inform my- 
self by observing nature." 

7. Writing stories which pupils have learned to tell 
well. Stories are the delight of young children, and 
they like to hear them many times. It is a capital 
oral exercise to tell a simple story, and teach children 
to repeat it well. They will make many an effort to 
tell a story so as to please the teacher and receive 
her approval. When the pupils have learned a story 
and can tell it beautifully, let it be made a written ex- 
erci.se. It will be an excellent drill in spelling, and in 
the use of capitals and punctuation marks. The same 



LANGUAGE. 249 

Story may not only be repeated many times, but it 
may be written more than once. 

N. B. In the above series of exercises both the thoughts and 
their oral expression are made familiar to the pupils before they are 
asked to write the sentences on the slate. The slate work is chiefly 
mechanical. 



II. Secondary Series. 

1. Writing the substajice of reading lessons. The pre- 
ceding exercises have led the pupil to the grouping 
of a few sentences, and writing them in the form of a 
paragraph. The pupil's reading lessons will afford ex- 
cellent materials for additional practice. A few ques- 
tions will elicit the more important facts, which, when 
expressed in the pupil's own language and properly 
grouped, will form an excellent written exercise. The 
lesson should first be taught orally, and the pupils 
should be given needed practice in telling what they 
thus learn. It will, however, not be necessary to 
make the written exercise a simple reproduction of 
the oral. The pupils are now prepared for freer work. 
One or two paragraphs may be sufficient for an ex- 
ercise. This series may also include the changing of 
poetry to prose, the simplest poems being used at 
first — a capital exercise. 

2. Writing descriptions of pictures and stories based on 
pictures. Children like to see and talk about pictures, 
and hence they afford excellent subjects for language 
lessons. They appeal not only to the eye but to the 
imagination — a constant source of child delight. I 
once heard a class of little children give a description 



250 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

of a camel from a large picture of the animal, the facts 
being called out by the skillful questions of the teacher. 
Many years ago I called attention to a primary school 
in which "picture lessons" were a marked success, 
but now such schools are numerous. Pictures are a 
prominent feature in nearly all courses of language 
lessons, and they are even made the basis of several 
extended series of lessons presented on cards and in 
books for the use of pupils. Pictures may be made 
the basis of little stories, the pupil being encouraged 
to use the imagination freely. These stories may be 
suggested by questions. 

3. Writing stories told or read by the tcacJier. This 
exercise is similar to the last in the primary series, 
but is more difficult since the stories are not commit- 
ted to memory. The pupils hear the story and then 
give the substance of it in their own words. At first 
the teacher may review the narrative by questioning 
the pupils, thus fixing the main points of it in their 
minds. The charming stories of Grimm, Christian 
Andersen, and other writers of children's tales, may 
be used for this purpose. The teacher should usually 
tell the story, and, of course, in an interesting manner. 

A story may be given in short sentences, and the 
pupils be required to unite and expand the same into 
a narrative.* It may also be suggested by questions 

*The following analysis of a narrative by the late Prof. T. E. 
Suliot, a very skillful teacher of English composition, will illustrate 
this exercise : 

1. During the reign of the Emperor Augustus, a dolphin formed 
an attachment to a boy. 

2. The boy was the son of a poor man. 

3. The boy used to feed the dolphin with bits of bread. 

4. Every day the dolphin swam to the surface of the water. 



LANGUAGE. 25 1 

written on the board. In higher classes, the mere 
outHnes of a story may be given, and the pupils be 
required to write the same. 

4. Writing descriptions by answering questions. So 
far the pupil has been more or less directly assisted 
in finding the thought-materials used in his written 
exercises. Now he is to begin to furnish his own 
materials, under the guidance of questions that direct 
his search for them. The plan is simple. The teacher 
selects an object or subject within the pupil's obser- 
vation, as "Rain," "Snow," "Fences," etc., and 
writes on the blackboard several suggestive questions 
which the pupils are to answer the next day in writ- 
ing. These answers are read in the class and freely 
discussed, thus giving to all the pupils an abundance 
of facts. They are now required to arrange these 
facts in the form of a written description. A given 
topic may be sufficient for several series of questions, 
and may afford materials for two or more written 
exercises. In the first exercises the objects may be 
presented with the questions. Pictures may also be 
used as the basis of this exercise. 

5. Writing business papers. These may include prom- 
issory notes, due -bills, receipts, checks, drafts, etc. 



5. The dolphin was called by the boy. 

6. The dolphin received his usual meal. 

7. The dolphin carried the boy on his back from the sea-port 
to a school in Putioli. 

8. The dolphin brought him back in the same manner. 

9. The boy after a time grew sick. 

10. The boy died. 

11. The dolphin came to the usual place. 

12. The dolphin missed his kind companion. 

13. The dolphin is said to have died of grief. 



252 EL EM EN TS OF FED A GOGY. 

Every boy and girl should be early taught to draw up 
such papers in proper form. They afford, in addition 
to their practical value, an excellent practice in writing 
abbreviated words, dates, etc. 

III. Original Series. 

The pupil is now thrown upon his own resources, 
and begins what may properly be called original coin- 
position. But it may be well to guide him in the se- 
lection of subjects. The one essential direction to all 
pupils is that they do not attempt to write on subjects 
of which they know nothing, the possession of thoughts 
being necessary to their expression. The seven series 
of exercises given below will afford much excellent 
practice. 

I. Letters. Pupils in our schools should have much 
instruction and practice in letter-writing. The ability 
to write an intelligent, well -expressed, neatly- written 
letter at ten years of age, is a possible and important 
acquisition. I once had a pupil who, when a small 
boy in an English school, wrote a letter daily for two 
years. He greatly excelled all his classmates in com- 
mand of language, and in accuracy and readiness in 
composing. A letter is a pen talk with a friend or 
other person, and is, perhaps, the freest and most 
natural of written productions. De Ouincy thinks 
that the best style of writing is found in the private 
correspondence of educated women. Many a school- 
girl, whose "essays" are stilted and dreary enough, 
can write charming letters, and for the reason that 
her letters express her own thoughts and feelings. 
The dating, signing, folding, an/d addressing of letters 



LANGUAGE. 253 

should receive special attention. The writing of let- 
ters should begin early — long before it is made a 
regular language exercise. 

2. Descriptions of knoiini objects. These may be nat- 
ural, as an animal, a tree, a range of hills, a valley, a 
lake, etc., or objects made by human skill. The de- 
scriptions should be truthful, 

3. Narratives of personal experience. These may at 
first be brief, including but a few incidents. A little 
practice, under stimulating guidance, will enable the 
pupil to write natural and interesting exercises. 

4. Descriptions of journeys, real and imaginaiy. 
These may at first be written in the form of letters. 
Young pupils may first be asked to talk about the 
journey — a trip to the country, a visit to an uncle, 
etc., and then v/rite a letter about it. This exercise 
may be made a valuable means of acquiring geograph- 
ical knowledge. 

5. Biographical sketches. This exercise may be 
united with the reading instruction, as described on 
page 240. When the facts in the life of an author 
have been made familiar, the pupils may be required to 
write these facts in the form of a biographical sketch. 
The exercise may also include the lives of men and 
women who have acquired fame in history, science, 
charity, etc., and especially those who have been pub- 
lic benefactors. 

6. Descriptions of current events. These may be nat- 
ural phenomena, as storms, floods, etc., or social and 
historical occurrences. New inventions, discoveries in 
science, etc., will be interesting topics to older pupils. 

7. The disctission of themes. This brings the pupil 
to the writing of the essay proper, and here style as- 



254 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

sumes new importance. Simplicity will require special 
attention. The best means of acquiring a simple style 
is the attentive reading of the writings of Addison and 
Irving. Franklin tells us in his autobiography that 
he greatly improved his style by carefully reading cer- 
tain essays in the "Spectator," and then writing what 
he had read, comparing his style with the original, 
and correcting his errors. A good style is largely 
caught by hearing and reading good English, but it is 
made one's own by thoughtful practice. 



It will be noticed that the three series of language 
exercises given above, and the several exercises in 
each series, are so arranged as to present a progress- 
ive course. The exercises rise in difficulty from the 
first to the last, ending with the writing of "essays" — 
a task which confronted the writer at his very first 
effort to "write the English language correctly." 

It is not, however, meant that these exercises shall 
actually receive attention in school training in the or- 
der here indicated. It is possible to make language 
training so "systematic" as to destroy the pupil's in- 
terest in it. Too much attention to the letter may 
kill the spirit. There must be great variety, and even 
spontaneity, in a child's language efforts, and the best 
thing to be done at a given time, or in the future, 
can not always be anticipated. It is believed that the 
intelligent teacher will find in these series of exercises 
much of the best experience of the schools in lan- 
guage training. Special attention is called to the fact 
that none of them swing on the gate of technical 
grammar. 



LANGUAGE. 255 

Language training should receive daily attention, 
and during the entire two years that precede the study 
of English grammar, language exercises should have a 
stated place in the daily program. They should re- 
ceive as faithful attention, both by teacher and pupil, 
as the exercises in reading or arithmetic, or any other 
branch of study. 

First Lessons in English Grammar. 

A successful study of the science of language re- 
quires a subtlety of the judgment, and a maturity of 
the reason possessed by few pupils "under fourteen 
years of age. Trench says that "Grammar is the 
logic of speech as Logic is the grammar of reason," 
and both philosophy and experience show that neither 
logic nor grammar is a child's study. Technical gram- 
mar clearly belongs to as high a period of mental 
training, as algebra. The most important reform in 
in the study of language, that has received attention 
within the past thirty years, is the postponement of 
grammar to a later period in the course ; and, in most 
schools, it is still undertaken full two years too early. 
The time thus well-nigh wasted on the analytic study 
of language should be given to a more thorough and 
progressive training in the use of language, as is indi- 
cated in the previous pages. "As grammar was made 
after language," says Spencer, "so ought it to be 
taught after language."* 

It is not only true that grammar should be taught 



* It may without "hesitation be affirmed that grammar is not the 
stepping-stone, but the finishing instrument. — Marcel. 



256 EL E ME NTS OF FED A GOGY. 

after language, but its facts should be reached through 
language. The guiding maxims here are, ^^ Facts be- 
fore principles," and ^' Facts before their classification.^' 

It is further to be observed that the facts of language 
are best reached by synthesis. The young pupil best 
learns the structure of the sentence, the nature and 
use of modifiers, by actually expressing and modifying 
his own thoughts. It is the thought that gives being 
and form to the sentence, and hence the thought must 
be grasped before the sentence can be analyzed, and 
the clearer this grasp the easier the analysis. Syn- 
thesis begins with the thought, and thus becomes the 
natural road to grammar. It should precede analysis, 
and both synthesis and analysis should prepare the 
way for technical grammar. 

The following method of introducing the pupil to 
the study of English grammar embodies these princi- 
ples. The exercises are limited to the Simple Sentence, 
since the mastery of its facts is essential to the intel- 
ligent study of the science of language as presented in 
the best school manuals. 



Introductory Lessons. 

Direct the pupils' attention to the distinction be- 
tween objects and their names, and write the names 
of the various objects in the school-room on 

•' _ ^ Nouns. 

the blackboard as given by pupils. Teach 
the pupils that these names are called nonns. Require 
the names of twenty or more objects to be written on 
paper by each pupil and brought to the class at the 
next exercise. 



LANGUAGE. 257 

As these lists of names are read, call attention to 
the fact that some of the names denote one object, 
and others more than one. Teach the idea 

Number. 

of 7iiimber as the property of nouns. Let 
the pupils reread their lists of nouns, and state whether 
they are singular or plural. Require them to bring to 
the next class exercise, say twenty nouns, written in 
the singular and also in the plural ; as, tree, trees ; 
bird, birds; fence, fences, etc. — the same being writ- 
ten in paragraph form, with proper punctuation marks. 
These written exercises will show that the plurals of 
nouns are not all formed in the same way, and possi- 
bly that certain nouns have the same form in the sin- 
gular and in the plural. 

The above exercises may also call attention to the 
fact that nouns which denote individual objects have 
no plural. Develop the idea of class, and 
show that the nouns which have a plural 
number denote classes of objects. Illustrate the dis- 
tinction between a common noun, the name of a class, 
and a proper noun, the name of an individual. Re- 
quire the pupils to bring to the next class exercise 
twenty common names, and after each a proper name 
denoting an individual of the class; thus, city, Colum- 
bus ; river, Ohio ; street, Broadway ; island, Iceland, 
etc. This written exercise should be repeated, if nec- 
essary. Attention may be called to the fact that all 
proper nouns when written should begin with a capital 
letter. 

Next develop the idea of quality, and write words 
denoting the quality of known objects on the black- 
board. Teach that these words qualify the nouns, 

W. p.— 22. 



258 ELEMEN TS OF FED A GOGY. 

which are the names of the objects, and are called 

adjectives.'^- Require the pupils to bring in the names 

of twenty objects, each preceded by an ad- 
Adjectives. / J ' r J 

jective denoting quality ; thus, tall trees ; 
small apples ; sour grapes ; a pleasant face, etc. 

Call attention to the actions of familiar objects, and 

write on the blackboard words denoting action. Name 

an object, as bird or bee, and ask the pu- 

Verbs. -^ ' . ' . ^ 

pils to name its appropriate actions. Teach 
that a word denoting action is called a vctB, and re- 
quire the pupils to bring in twenty or more written 
sentences composed of a noun and a verb ; as, Birds 
fly. Children sing. Bees hum. etc. 

Next call attention to the differences in actions of 

the same kind, and show that the meaning of a verb 

may be qualified by a word denoting man- 
Adverbs. / n / t> 

ner, time, etc. Write verbs on the board 
and let pupils add qualifying words. Teach that these 
words that qualify verbs are called adverbs. Require 
the pupils to bring in twenty written sentences with 
each verb modified by an adverb. 

The pupils will thus obtain a clear primary knowl- 
edge of four parts of speech — nouns, the names of 
things ; adjectives, words that modify the meaning of 
nouns; verbs, words that denote actions; and adverbs, 
words that modify verbs. f No attempt has been made 
to teach formal definitions, or to develop all the prop- 



*The term adnoun is preferable, but the term adjective is in gen- 
eral use. 

t Pronouns (personal) may also be introduced here, and the prop- 
erties of gender and person made familiar. This instruction may, 
however, be given later with advantage. 



LANGUAGE. 2$g 

erties of nouns and verbs, the classes of adjectives 
and adverbs, etc. Other facts and other classes of 
words will be discovered as the pupils proceed in the 
course, and can then be made familiar. The guiding 
maxim in these lessons is ^' one fact at a time.'' This 
fact should be taught at the right time, and should be 
made familiar before it is left. 

N. B. All of the written exercises in the course should be first 
brought in on slate or paper, and, after being considered in class and 
corrected, they should be neatly copied with pen and ink in a blank- 
book provided for the purpose. These exercises should be written 
in paragraph forna and headed. Exercise I, Exercise 2, etc. 

Synthesis of the Simple Sentence. 

The pupils are now prepared to begin the synthesis 
of the simple sentence, and thus learn the relations 
between the words of which it is composed. The first 
step is to teach the frame -work, so to speak, of the 
sentence by teaching the four general forms in which 
thoughts may be expressed, called the four forms of 
predication. 

I. Write on the board several names of objects, and 
ask the pupils to affirm some action of each object. 
Proceed in this manner until ten or more Action 
sentences affirming action have been writ- Predicated. 
ten. Call on the pupils to give the word in each sen- 
tence, that is, the name of the object and the word 
that denotes the action, and teach the terms stibject 
and predicate. For the next lesson give the names of 
two objects, as birds and bees, and require the pupils 
to predicate as many actions of each as they may be 
able, each class of sentences to be written in a para- 



260 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

graph. The pupils may also be required to select 
from ten to twenty objects, and affirm an action of 
each object. 

These written sentences should be read in the class, 
and the subject and predicate in each designated. 
Select from the sentences thus presented and analyzed 
twenty or more of the best, and have the pupils copy 
the same with pen and ink in their exercise books, for 
future use. 

2. Next show that quality may be affirmed of an 
object. Take an apple for example, and lead the pu- 

Quaiity pUs to rccognizc its various qualities — first 
Predicated, those which the eye reveals; as, round, green 
or red, large or small, fair, etc. ; then those revealed 
by the sense of touch ; as, smooth or rough, hard, soft, 
or mellow, withered, etc.; then by the sense of taste; 
as, sour or sweet, tart, pleasant, juicy, etc. Let the 
pupils write sentences upon the blackboard affirming 
several of these qualities of an apple. Let them des- 
ignate the words denoting respectively the name of 
the object or subject, the quality predicated or attribu- 
ted, and the copula (terms to be explained).* 

For the next lesson several objects may be named, 
and the pupils required to bring in sentences predicat- 
ing appropriate qualities of each. The words paper, 
chalk, coal, iron, sugar, salt, snow, ice, glass, leather, 
horse, tree, etc., will be found easy and suitable. 



*The copula and attribute together constitute the predicate, and, 
in analysis, the pupils should be taught to divide the sentence into 
subject and predicate, and then give the copula and attribute. In 
the sentence, " Apples are sour," "Apples" is the subject, and "are 
sour" the predicate, "are" being the copula and "sour" the attri- 
bute. Some grammarians consider the attribute the predicate. 



LANGUAGE. 26 1 

When these sentences have been read and analyzed, 
the teacher should select twenty or more of the best 
for the pupils to copy in their exercise books. 

For an additional exercise, show how several qual- 
ities of the same object may be affirmed in one sen- 
tence; as, "Glass is hard, smooth, and brittle;" and 
also that the same quality may be affirmed of several 
objects; as, " Glass, paper, and ice are smooth." Have 
the pupils bring in ten or more sentences of each kind, 
and, after they have been read and analyzed, select 
ten or more of the best sentences of each kind for the 
pupils to copy in exercise books. 

3. Review the previous lesson on classes of objects 
(p. 258), and then write on the board the names of 
ten or more objects, and ask the pupils to ciass 
affirm class of each ; as, " Grass is an herb," Predicated. 
"Iron is a mineral," etc. Require the pupils to give 
the subject and predicate, and then the word denoting 
the class or the attribute and the copula. Require the 
pupils to bring in for the next class exercise twenty 
sentences, in which class is predicated. Analyze these 
sentences and select twenty of the best for pupils to 
copy. It may be necessary to have several exercises 
in order to make the pupils sufficiently familiar with 
this mode of predication. 

4. Develop the ideas of place or position, and write 
on the board sentences in which place or position is 
affirmed; as, "The pencil is on the table," piace, etc., 
"The paper is under the book," etc. Show Predicated, 
that the phrases "on the table" and "under the 
book" denote the attribute predicated, and analyze the 
sentences into subject and predicate, and the predicate 



262 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

into copula and attribute. Write on the board the 
following words and phrases denoting place or position, 
and have pupils use the same in written sentences as 
attributes: here, there, in town, in the country, in the 
city, on the table, out of town, in the water, in the 
sky, etc. These sentences should be analyzed into 
subject and predicate, and the predicate into copula 
and attribute, and then twenty or more of the best 
selected and copied. 

The idea of condition may then be developed in a 
similar manner, and sentences written containing such 
phrases in the predicate as in doubt, in perplexity, 
in danger, in peril, on the advance, on the retreat, on 
the increase, etc. These sentences should be analyzed 
and twenty or more selected and copied.* 

The four classes of simple sentences thus taught 
present the four general forms of predication. If the 
Essential cxcrciscs liave been faithfully prepared. 
Elements, ^j^g scntcnccs clcarly analyzed, and the se- 
lected ones copied, the pupils will be somewhat fa- 



* The practical value of a clear knowledge of this form of pred- 
ication will appear more fully when the class reaches the parsing 
of the preposition. It will then be obvious, if attention be called 
to it, that when a prepositional phrase is used as an essential ele- 
vient of a sentence (not as a modifier), its initial preposition does 
not show the relation of its object to any other word in the sen- 
tence. The same is true when a phrase is used as the subject of 
a sentence. In such sentences as "The army is in peril," "The 
result is in doubt," "In danger is a phrase," "In the morning is the 
time for duty," etc., the phrase is an essential element, and the 
preposition "in" does not show the relation between words. When 
the prepositional phrase is used as a modifier (p. 264), the preposi- 
tion shows the relation between its object and the word which the 
phrase as a ivhole modifies. 



LANGUAGE. 263 

miliar with the essential elements of a simple sentence, 
and they will also have acquired some skill in its syn- 
thesis and analysis. 



The next step will be to make the pupils familiar 
with the different modes of expanding a sentence by 
the use of modifierSy and the lessons may Modifiers oi 
properly begin with the modifiers of the Subjects, 
subject. It will be easy to show that the subject may 
be modified (i) by an adjective ; i. e., by a word de- 
noting quality ; as, "Tall trees bend," "Shallow brooks 
are noisy ;" or by a limiting adjective ; as, "This boy is 
studious," "Ten soldiers were killed;" or by both lim- 
iting and qualifying adjectives; as, " Five brave soldiers 
fell," "A few wild flowers are in the vase." These 
sentences will serve as models for sentences to be writ- 
ten by the pupils and analyzed in class, twenty or more 
of each series being selected and copied for future use. 

In like manner it may be shown that the subject of 
a sentence may be modified (2) by a iioim denoting 
possession; as, "Children's voices are musical," "The 
crazy man's eyes are restless," "The sun's warm rays 
are pleasant;" (3) by a Jionn in apposition; as, "Milton 
the poet was blind," "Willie the drummer is dead;" 
and (4) by an adjunct {or phrase); as, "The rays of the 
sun warm the earth," "The hand of diligence is seldom 
empty." Each of these forms of modifying will afford 
one or more written exercises of ten to twenty sen- 
tences each, to be analyzed, and the selected ones 
copied. It will be found a valuable exercise to require 
the pupils to change the prepositional phrases used by 
them to adjectives, or to nouns in the possessive case. 



264 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

Great pains should be taken to secure the correct use 
of the possessive sign. 

In a similar manner the use of participles and in- 
finitives as modifiers of a noun may be illustrated and 
familiarized. It is better, however, to omit these mod- 
ifiers until the verb is better understood. 

The pupils may here be taught that these different 
modifiers of the subject are equally applicable to a 
noun in the predicate. The following sentences may 
be given as models for several new exercises : "A 
flatterer is a dangerous enemy," "An idle brain is the 
devil's workshop," "Idleness is the parent of vice." 



The modifiers of the verb may next be taught. The 
verb may be modified (i) by an adverb ; as, "The sol- 
Modifiers of diers fought bravely" (manner), "A good 

the Verb. name will shine forever" (time), "The 
king lives here " (place) ; and each of these sentences 
will serve as models for ten to twenty written sen- 
tences. Sentences may also be written and analyzed 
in which an adverb modifies an adverb; as, "Kate 
sang very sweetly," and those in which an adverb 
modifies an adjective; as, "A very tall tree fell," "The 
stranger is very rich." 

The verb may be modified (2) by an adjiinct (phrase) 
denoting manner, time, place, cause, etc.; as, "Bad 
workmen are known by their chips," "In the morning 
sow thy seed," "The soldier died for his country" — 
the adjuncts performing the same office as adverbs; 
and also by both an adverb and an adjunct; as, "The 
house was shaken violently by the wind." 



LANGUAGE. 265 

The verb may be modified (3) by a noun denoting 
the object]^ as, "The wind shakes the house," "The 
fire burns coal;" and also (4) by an mfinitive, or infin- 
itive phrase (verbal noun); as, "The boy strives to 
excel," "A noble boy will scorn to do a mean act." 
Each of these sentences will serve as models for ten 
to twenty written sentences, and the exercises should 
be repeated until this form of modifying is familiar to 
the pupils. 



There has been little attempt in the above outline 
to indicate the nature of the oral instruction which 
should prepare the way for the writing of the illustra- 
tive exercises* The main reliance should be placed 
on the writing of the sentences and their analysis, since 
these will give the pupil a better knowledge of the 
structure of the sentence and the office of modifiers 
than any amount of explanation by the teacher. 

As indicated above in several instances, the analytic 
drill on the written exercises in class is to be followed 
by the selection of twenty (more or less) Analysis and 
of the best sentences prepared by the pu- Parsing, 
pils, and the copying of these in an exercise book 
provided for the purpose. These exercise books, at 
the close of the synthetic course, above described, will 
contain possibly near a thousand selected sentences, di- 



*Some grammarians do not regard the object as a modifier of 
the verb, but as an essential element of the sentence. It seems to 
be clearly a modifier. 

The use of the participle, the infinitive (after nouns and adjec- 
tives), and the clause as a modifier should receive no attention until 

the verb is more fully taught, and the complex sentence is reached. 
W. P.— 23. 



266 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

vided into exercises, and each specially illustrating one 
fact of the simple sentence. These books will thus 
contain most excellent material for future study, and 
the next step is to review the entire series, giving spe- 
cial attention to both analysis and parsiiig, the former 
being made the key to the latter. The analysis should 
be simple, and the parsing should follow no definite 
formula. The two essential facts of each word to be 
known are its class (part of speech) and its relation to 
the other words in the sentence. Other facts of im- 
portance may be called out by questions. 

The properties of the noun and pronoun (personal) 
will be early reached, including person, number, gen- 
der, and case, and these should be made familiar; also 
the classes of adjectives and adverbs, and the preposi- 
tion and conjunction. When the noun in the objective 
case after the verb is again reached, the pupils may be 
led to see that all verbs do not admit of an object, and 
also that verbs may be divided into two classes — those 
which take an object after them (transitive), and those 
which do not take an object (intransitive). It may be 
well at this point to require the pupils to rewrite the 
sentences in their books which contain an object after 
the verb, making the word denoting the object the 
subject. "The wind shakes the house" thus changed 
will become "The house is shaken by the wind." 
The pupils will thus discover that transitive verbs have 
two forms or voices called active and passive. 

In teaching the verb it may be well to call attention 
to the time property, and especially the three natural 
divisions of time, — past, present, and future, — but it 
will be a mistake to attempt to teach at this time the 
modes and tenses of the verb exhaustively, including 



LANGUAGE. 267 

the participles. Let these facts and forms remain for 
future discovery and study. 

In these first lessons, designed to be introductory to 
the study of technical grammar, no attempt should be 
made to teach formal definitions and rules. The chief 
aim should be to give the pupils the concepts and 
facts of grammar as they are met in language. It will 
be time to attempt formal definitions of grammatical 
terms, when the study of the subject by means of a 
text-book is undertaken. 

It is not deemed necessary to add many suggestions 
respecting the teaching of English grammar when 
pupils are prepared for the study of a study of 
text-book. It must suffice to say that Text-book, 
their attention should be directed to the mastery of 
the more important facts and principles, and to this 
end these should, one by one, be made familiar by 
continued drills. The ordinary text-books present too 
few sentences for analysis and parsing, and as many 
other sentences as may be needed should be added 
by the teacher. When the more essential facts and 
principles have thus been mastered, — and this may 
require a school year, — the subject as presented in the 
text-book should be reviewed. There should now be 
clean and thorough work. 

In correcting errors in language, great care should 
be taken not to make the pupils too familiar with the 
errors corrected. They should both speak and write 
the correct forms, not the incorrect. The habit of 
correct speech is largely "caught" by speaking cor- 
rectly, and hence an error in speech should not be re- 
peated by the pupil. 



268 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 



GEOGRAPHY. 

The teaching of geography has received for many 
years past increasingly wide and earnest attention, and 

Progress this has rcsulted in progress in several 
Made. dircctions. More attention is given to oral 
instruction and map drawing than formerly, less time 
is wasted on unimportant details and in memorizing 
the descriptive text, and an increasing number of 
teachers are making the facts and principles of 
physical geography the basis of their instruction in 
the higher classes. The discouraging fact is that not 
one of these important changes has as yet been made 
in the majority of American schools. It is believed 
that many, if not most, teachers are still "going 
through " the text-books in geography in the old way. 

One reason for this state of things is the impression 
among teachers that the adoption of more rational 
Method and mcthods of teaching geography depends 
Text-book. Qj^ ^|-^g ^gg Qf text-books embodying these 
methods. It is true that a suitable text-book is a 
valuable aid in teaching any branch of study, especi- 
ally in its higher phases, but no intelligent teacher 
need follow a wrong method of teaching because it 
is embodied in the book used by his pupils, and this 
is especially true in teaching geography. Quite satis- 
factory success has been attained in this branch in 
connection with the use of the least progressive text- 
books. Experience fully shows that a rational 
method of teaching geography is less dependent on a 



GEOGRAPHY. 269 

suitable text-book than a poor method. The more 
bookish and memoriter the method, the more essential 
is a good text-book. 

It may also be noted that there is no other branch 
of study in which the method of teaching to be used 
depends less on the objects or purposes to objects or 
be attained. Whether the purpose be the ^"'^®- 
discipHne of the mind, or the culture of the imagina- 
tion, or obtaining a basis for the intelligent study of 
history, or for reading to obtain information of current 
events, or for the purposes of commerce and travel, 
the best results are reached by essentially the same 
general method of instruction. What is most needed 
for each and all of these ends is the furnishing of the 
mind with definite pictures of different portions of the 
earth's surface — mental maps which will give a "local 
habitation " to terrestrial affairs. These mental maps 
must be something more than form and color, repre- 
senting outline and relief, though a good "eye 
picture" is important. They must also picture the 
globe as man's dwelling-place, and, to this end, they 
must represent the important facts related to human 
life — to man's interests and achievements. 

The wise adaptation of the matter and method of 
instruction in geography to the varying capability of 
the pupils (page 100) gives three some- courses of 
what distinct courses of study, as follows : study. 

1. An oral course in home geography, based on the 
study of things. 

2. An intermediate course, with the use of globes, 
outline maps, and text-books, 

3. A course in physical geography. 



270 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

The characteristic features of these several courses 
of instruction, with more or less attention to method, 
will now be considered. 

I. Oral Course in Home Geography. 

The first lessons in geography should teach those 
primary concepts and facts which are the elements of 
First all geographical knowledge, and since these 
steps. simple elements of knowledge can only be 
acquired by the study of things (page 113), the in- 
struction must be objective and oral. Geography is 
the one elementary branch that looks out to nature, 
and its study must begin with the observation of 
nature, first as bounded by the horizon line that shuts 
in the child's little world of home — nature as pre- 
sented to the eye; and then as it may be pictured by 
the imagination. 

The primary concepts and facts of geography thus 
to be taught include those of position, direction, dis- 

Primary tauce, surfacc, map representation, land 
Knowledge. ^^^ water, soil, climate, natural produc- 
tions (including trees and plants, fruits, grains and 
grasses, garden vegetables, animals, domestic and wild, 
etc.), the occupations of men, races of men, etc. 
The attempt to embody this primary knowledge in a 
book for pupils to study has always failed and must 
fail. Such lessons must be taught orally, and in giv- 
ing them the teacher must be careful to tell the pupils 
nothing which they can be led to observe for them- 
selves. 

It is not, however, meant that all the instruction 
should be limited to objects which lie within the 



GEOGRAPHY. 2/1 

observation of the pupils. Many of the facts taught 
objectively should be made stepping-stones to kindred 
facts lying beyond the horizon of the senses. The 
pupils may thus be led from the seen to the unseen, 
from the known to the related unknown. Instruction 
thus relating to other portions of the earth should be 
given in such a manner as not only to interest the 
pupils, but to lead them to picture mentally the ob- 
jects described, and hence it should be addressed to 
the imagination in a lively manner. 

In view of the difficulties experienced by teachers 
in arranging this primary instruction in geography, I 
present below the syllabus of a course, 

^ ■' . , ' Syllabus. 

developing somewhat in detail both the 
matter and method of instruction. It will be seen 
that the course contains many of the topics once 
taught under the name of "object lessons," including 
lessons on plants, animals, minerals, etc., — all clearly 
belonging to primary geography. The grouping of 
these topics under the general subject of geography 
will assist in removing the growing impression that 
too many branches are taught in elementary schools. 
The instruction indicated should run through the first 
three or four years of school. 



Syllabus of Oral Lessons in Home Geography. 

Teach objectively the relative positions expressed by the 
terms over and under, above and below, in, on or upon, etc. 
This may be done by placing objects in these re- Position or 
lations to each other and asking questions. The Place, 
pupils may also be requested to hold a book over a slate, under a 
slate ; to put a book on the table, in the drawer, etc. 



2^2 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

Next teach the terms right, left, front, back. Pupils hold up 
the right hand ; the left hand. They step two steps to the right ; 
two steps to the left. They change positions and point to the 
right ; to the left. One pupil stands in front of the teacher ; 
another, back of the teacher. Pupils name objects in the school- 
room at their right, left, front, and back. The teacher names 
objects and the pupils locate them. 

Pupils are requested to stand in front of the class and name 
objects located by the teacher; then to locate objects named by 
the teacher. A pupil faces the table and points to its front edge, 
back edge, right-hand edge, left-hand edge, etc. He takes a 
different position and names or locates the front, the back, etc. 
The exercises are to be varied and continued until the pupils 
have clear ideas of these relative positions. 

Teach the directions cast and west by referring to the rising 

sun and to the setting sun. Have pupils face the east, face 

the west ; point to the east, point to the west ; walk 
Direction. "^ ' 

toward the east, walk toward the west, etc. 

Pupils stand with their right hands toward the east and their 
left hands toward the west, and are ^^'d that their faces are to 
the north and their backs to tlic south. They point north and 
then south. They walk north and then south. They face the 
north, the south, the east, the west. They face successively 
north, east, south, and west, and tell in each instance the direc- 
tion of their right hand, left hand, face, back. 

Pupils point to the north side of the school-room, south side, 
east end, west end. One pupil takes a position near the north 
wall of the school-room (No. i), another near the east wall (No. 
2), a third near the south wall (No. 3), and a fourth (No. 4) 
near the west wall. No. i points to No. 3 and gives the direc- 
tion, and No. 3 to No. i. No. 2 points to No. 4 and gives direc- 
tion, and No. 4 to No. 2. No. i walks south. No. 3 north, No. 2 
west, No. 4 east, etc. 

Pupils tell in what part of the room the front door is, the 
teacher's desk, the clock, stove, etc. They give the directions 
of the cracks in the floor, the backs of seats, sides and ends of 
the room, etc. They name some object north of the school- 
house ; east, west, south. Pupils tell in what direction they walk 
in coming to school, in going home, etc. 



GEOGRAPHY. ^ 273 

Teach the pupils that the direction between north and east 
is north-east. What chrectiou between north and west r South 
and east ? South and west ? Pupils face the north-west , south- 
west , north-east , south-east. They name an object in the 
north-west corner of the room ; 111 the south-west corner , north- 
east corner ; south-east corner. 

A pupil takes his place in front of the class and walks three 
steps toward the north-west, three steps south-west Class give 
the direction from the teacher to different objects in the room ; 
from the school-house to the churches, hotels, dwellings, hills, 
woods, ponds, etc., in the vicinity ; direction of these objects, 
taken two and two, to each other. 

Two pupils take a long string, and, standing in different po- 
sitions in the school-room, give the direction each to the other. 
They tell in what direction a fly would walk from one end of 
the string to the other. In what direction does a north wind 
blow ? From what direction .'' An east wind .-' A south wind ? 

If the direction between objects in above exercises can not be 
accurately described, let the class say "nearly;" as, "nearly 
north-east." Whenever the observations of the pupils are at 
fault, give them an opportunity to look again. Postpone the 
answer to another day, if necessary. 

Compare objects of nearly equal length, and let pupils guess 
which is the longer. Draw a straight line upon the blackboard 
and let the pupils divide it into two equal parts; idea of 
four equal parts ; three equal parts. Test accuracy Distance, 
by measurement. Supply each pupil with a six-inch rule.* 
Hold up pencils, pen-holders, etc., for pupils to guess the length; 
apply the rule to test results. 

Teach the terms length, width or breadth, depth, thickness, 
and height. Pupils guess the length and width of books, slates, 
window-panes, desks, etc. Pupils draw lines upon blackboard 
three inches long, four inches, nine inches, etc., and apply the 
rule to ascertain the exact length. 

Show the pupils a foot-rule and a yard-stick. Draw a line 
one foot in length upon the blackboard ; let a pupil determine 



* A narrow strip of strong paper accurately divided into inches will answer. 



274 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

how many inches there are in it by actual measurement. Pupils 
guess and then measure the length of lines ; the length and 
width of the blackboard ; of the floor ; of the window frames ; 
the height of the ceiling. 

They estimate the width of the street in yards, the length 
of the school-yard, the distance between trees, etc., testing the 
accuracy in each case by measuring. Two pupils stand in 
various positions, guess the distance between them, and then 
measure with the yard-stick. They guess the distance between 
objects placed for the purpose. 

A line at least one rod in length is provided. The pupils 
guess distances (at first under five rods, then under ten, next 
under twenty, and so on), and then measure them. 

Select a well known object one mile from the school-house ; 
compare the distance to prominent objects in the vicinity with 
the distance to this. Give the pupils as correct an idea as pos- 
sible of a mile — the geographical unit. Let them estimate the 
distance they come to school ; the distance from the school- 
house to well known objects, as the post-office, a hill, etc. 

Combine direction and distance, and thus review previous 
lessons. Let the pupils give direction and distance between ob- 
jects in the school-room ; the direction and distance to prom- 
inent objects in the neighborhood ; estimate the number of 
minutes it will take to walk to each, etc. 

Place a table in such a position that its edges shall coincide 
with the points of the compass, and, if there be no blackboard 
Map of on the north wall of the school-room, fasten on it 
Table-top. a large piece of paper. Have pupils stand facing 
the north. Draw on the board or paper near the top a hori- 
zontal line one half, or one third, or one fourth of the length 
of the north edge or side of the table, and tell the pupils that 
this line represents the table's edge, and that you wish them 
to help you complete a picture of the top of the table. Next 
start a line from the east end of the line on the board and 
perpendicular to it, and have pupils measure the edges of the 
table to determine how long it must be drawn ; then draw it. 
Next draw a line representing the west edge of the table, and 
then a line representing the south edge. Call this a map of 
the top of the table. Teach the pupils that the upper edge of 



GEOGRAPHY. 2/5 

the blackboard is the north edge, the bottom edge the south, the 
right-hand edge the east, and the left-hand edge the west. Have 
pupils point to the north edge of the map ; the east edge ; the 
south edge ; the west edge ; the north-east corner ; tlie south- 
east corner ; the south-west corner ; the north-west corner. 

Next place on the table at different points objects, as an ink- 
stand, bell, box, apple, etc., and then locate these objects on 
the map, pupils assisting in determining the positions. Outline 
pictures of objects may be drawn, or they may be represented 
by initial letters or figures. Let pupils give directions between 
the objects on the table and then between their representatives 
on the map. Continue the drill until pupils are nearly as 
familiar with direction on the map as on the table-top. Have 
the pupils' draw a map of the table-top on their slates, and locate 
objects on the table on their map. 

The next step will be to draw a map of the floor of the 
school-room, on a definite scale, as one inch to the foot. 
Measure the north end or side of the school-room. Map of 
and draw a horizontal line to represent this edge of Schooi-room. 
the floor. Have pupils measure the other sides of the room and 
complete its outline. Then locate accurately the doors, stoves, 
teacher's desk, etc. 

Let the pupils locate these objects, first in the school-room 
and then on the map — " first the object and then the picture." 
Let them give the directions between the objects, taken two and 
two, and then between their representatives on the map — thus 
passing from the real objects to the map. Teach what is meant 
by the boundaries of the room ; of a farm. Have the pupils 
copy this map on their slates. 

Next draw a map of the school-yard or the square in which 

the school-house is situated, determining comparative length of 

sides by measurement. Locate a few objects and 
,.,,.,.. . r , , , • Other maps, 

drill m direction, passing from the real objects to 

their representatives on the map. To familiarize the pupils 

with direction on a map, place a figure at the center of the 

map, and at the middle of each side and each end, and then 

ask the direction from i to 2, 2 to i ; i to 4, 4 to i ; 2 to 3, 3 

to 2, etc. 



2/6 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

Draw on a definite scale a map of the township, village, or 
city in which the school is located, representing thereon the 
l^rincipal streets, streams, hills, buildings, etc., and then drill 
pupils on this map as above. Continue until they can readily 
give directions between objects, locate them by words, and can 
readily draw the map. 

Develop the idea of surface, showing that surface may be 

smooth or rough, even or uneven. Take a large sheet of paper 

„ , and place it on the floor or table, and call it an 

Surface. ^ 

even surface ; then crumple the paper, thus makmg 

the surface uneven. Have pupils point out an even surface of 

ground near the school-house ; also an uneven surface. Talk 

about the near farms, whether even or uneven, and describe the 

difference in the roads in an even and an uneven country. 

Next develop the idea of a level surface and a sloping or 
inclined surface. Point to the top of the table and ask whether 

Level or level Or sloping ; tip the table by lifting one end of 

Sloping. i(-_ and then ask whether the top be level or sloping. 
Have pupils hold their slates in a level position ; in a sloping 
position. Show that water runs readily off from a sloping sur- 
face ; the effect on running water if the slope be increased. 

Next develop the idea of a plane. Take a straight edge, as a 

yard-stick, and put it in different positions on the top of the table, 

Plane and let the pupils see how the edge rests uniformly 

Surfaces. on the table. Put a sheet of paper smoothly on the 
table and apply the straight edge again ; then crumple up the 
paper and apply the edge, calhng the attention of the pupils to 
the great difference. Tell them that the top of the table is a 
plane surface, and ask whether the floor is a plane surface, the 
walls of the room, the ceiling, etc. Then show that a plane may 
be level or sloping ; ask what kind of a plane is the top of the 
table ; tip the table, and ask what kind of a plane it now is. 
Show that level land-surfaces are called plains (not planes). 
Ask pupils to find a small plain near the school-house. Lead 
the pupils to see by imagination larger plains, — plains that con- 
tain a number of farms, etc. 

Next develop the concept of a hill, and make a picture of one 
on the blackboard. Teach the ideas represented by the words 
foot or base, sides or slopes, top or summit, and the height of 



GEOGRAPHY. 277 

the hill. The last idea can best be tausrht by moldine: a hill in 
sand, and, after teaching its parts, running a needle Hiu and 
or wire from the top vertically to the plane of the Mountain, 
base. Show that the height is less than the length of the slope. 
Teach distinction between a hill and a mound — the one a 
natural elevation of land ; the other artificial. Help the pupils 
to imagine a very high hill, and call it a mountain ; describe as 
vividly as possible some noted mountain. 

Next call attention to a ridge or range of hills. If there be 
one in the neighborhood, use this ; if not, show Ridges of 
the pupils a picture of such a range, or mold ranges HiUs. 

of hills in sand, and then develop an idea of a valley. 

The next lesson may develop the idea of a stream of water, 
beginning with a stream well known to the pupils. Teach what 
is meant by running water and by still water ; Stream of 
what is meant by the current of a stream ; why Water, 
the water has a current ; why some streams are more rapid 
than others ; why boats can not ascend some rivers ; what is 
meant by a water-fall. Tell the pupils about famous rapids in 
rivers; also something of interest about some famous falls, as 
Niagara Falls. 

Draw the picture or map of a stream of water on the board, 
and teach what is meant by the source or sources of the stream, 
its course, and its mouth ; also, the banks of the stream, the 
right bank, the left bank; its channel and its bed; its branches, 
etc. Write all these terms on the board; also the names applied 
to a small stream, as creek and brook ; then develop the idea 
of a river, and apply appropriate terms above to it. 

N. B. — Teach 710 formal defi}iittons at this stage, but see that 
concepts and ideas are clearly in mind, and that the proper 
words are closely associated with them. 

Develop the concept lake, beginning with a known pond, if 
pupils have not seen a lake. Compare a pond and a stream — 
one running water, and the other still water. Show ^ 

how ponds are formed ; what are its banks, its bed, 
its depth. Enlarge the pond in imagination until it is a lake 
large enough for steamers to sail on it. Describe some great 
lake, its waves in storms, etc.; describe a salt lake. 



2/8 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

Draw map of township or county on the board in outline, 
and, with the assistance of the pupils, indicate the location of 
Map of ranges of hills, if any, streams, ponds or lakes, the 
County. village, etc.; and then by questions lead the pupils 
to locate the more interesting of these objects and talk about 
them. In this simple manner, the pupils may acquire some 
knowledge of the surface of the country where they live, and 
Its representation by means of a map — the beginning of geo- 
graphical knowledge. 

Have the pupils name the different kinds of trees that grow 

in the vicinity, and write the names of forest trees on the board ; 

ask pupils to bring in specimens of their leaves ; 
Trees. }^ \ ^ . . 

teach them to recognize the more common trees 

by their leaves and bark. Teach the uses of the trees nam^d ; 

the difference between a shrub (a dwarf tree) and a sapling 

(young tree) ; the diameter and height of the largest trees seen 

by the pupils ; distance to the limbs, etc. Tell the pupils about 

the mammoth trees of California. 

Take a small shrub and show it to the pupils. Lead them 
to see its several parts, as roots, stalk or trunk, branches, and 
leaves ; write the names on the board. Teach how trees grow 
from seeds or slips ; what their food is, and how received — the 
"mouths" of the tree; what is taken through the roots; what 
through the leaves and green sprouts ; how to tell the age of a 
tree ; what becomes of wood when burned ; how charcoal is 
made, and what use is made of it ; what use is made of ashes, 
etc. 

Next develop the concept forest or woods. Begin with a 
known grove, with its cool shade in summer ; then speak of the 
great woods or forests, covering a wide extent of country ; of 
the wild animals that live in some great forests ; of the Indians, 
once the children of the woods. Describe a pine forest in 
winter, especially when covered with snow ; also, a Brazilian 
forest. 

Let the pupils see and handle, if possible, the different kinds 

of earth, as sand, clay, loam, etc., and teach them what is 

meant by a sandy soil, a clay soil, a loam soil ; also, 

a fertile soil, a barren soil, etc. Have the pupils 

locate these different soils, if found in the neighborhood. Write 



GEOGRAPHY. 279 

on the blackboard the names of the more common grasses with 
which the pupils may be familiar. 

Next teach the different grains raised by the farmers in the 
locality, and write the names, as given by the pupils, on the 
blackboard; also, the uses of each grain opposite . 

its name. Write also the names of the grains 
raised in other sections, which pupils have seen. Tell them 
about the great wheat-fields of the North-west ; the corn-fields 
of lUinois; the rice-fields of China and India. 

Next take up the garden vegetables, and write on the board 
the names of the more common, as given by pupils; also, 
names of vegetables raised in other countries, and „ 

° Vegetables. 

seen by the pupils. Give a lesson on the pea-nut 
or ground-nut. Teach the use made of the beet in France (man- 
ufacture of sugar), and give lessons on sugars — maple, beet, 
cane, and sorghum. 

Several lessons may be given on fruits. Write on the board 
the names of the fruits raised in the vicinity, as given by the 
pupils. Have them tell how they grow, how cul- Fruits, 
tivated, for what used, etc. Next write on the 
board the names of fruits raised elsewhere and imported. Give 
lessons on oranges, describing an orange grove or orchard in 
Florida or California ; also lessons on lemons, bananas, figs, etc., 
using specimens of the fruits. Give lessons on wild fruits; on 
fruit cukivation, grafting, etc.; also lessons on coffee, tea, and 
chocolate. 

Give several lessons on the foods of the people in different 
countries, as China, Greenland, Central Africa,— foods in cold 
countries and in hot countries. Speak of the im- poo^s. 
portance of the potato in Ireland (" potato famine ") ; 
rice in India and China; the date-palm in the Sahara desert, etc. 

Next take up the plants that produce material for clothing- 
flax, where raised, how dressed, etc.; cotton, where piants for 
raised, how picked, etc.; hemp, for what used. Clothing. 
Give also a lesson on the silk-worm, its food, etc. 

The animals found in the vicinity should next receive atten- 
tion. Write on the board the names of the domestic animals, 



28o ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

drst quadrupeds, as given by pupils, and have them designate 
Domestic those that are cud-chewers, those that have a 
Animals. cloven hoof, those that eat flesh, those that are 
commonly used for food by man ; what meat is called beef, what 
viiitton, what pork, etc. Have pupils describe the teeth and feet 
of the cat and of the dog. Give lessons on the making of 
butter and cheese ; on the horse, the sheep, the hog, the goat, 
the camel, the reindeer, the elephant, etc. 

Teach the wild animals of the vicinity, — those that live in 
the woods, those that burrow in the ground, those that infest 
Wild barns and houses, those that are hunted for their 

Animals. fyj-, those that are hunted for food, etc. Give les- 
sons on the squirrel, the opossum, the porcupine, the deer, the 
bear, the buffalo, the tiger, the lion, etc., using pictures of the 
animals not known to the pupils. 

Write on the board the names of the domestic birds (fowls) 

raised in the vicinity, as given by pupils. Have the pupils tell 

„. , the use or value of each to man ; those that are 

Birds. ' 

web-footed, those that perch at night, etc. Give 
lessons on eggs, the hatching of the young, etc. Next let pupils 
name the wild birds, and designate those that are birds of prey, 
those that are swimmers, etc. Give lessons on the owl, the 
hawk, the pigeon, the ostrich, the condor, etc. 

Give lessons on reptiles, including those found in the vicinity 

and those found in other countries, as the alligator, the crocodile, 

other the boa-constrictor, etc.; also, lessons on insects, in- 

Animais. eluding the fly, the spider, the grasshopper, the 
locust, the honey-bee, etc.; also, lessons on fishes and other 
water animals. 

Give lessons on the occupations of the people of the locality. 
Write on the board the names of occupations, the names given 
Occupations. ^° persons engaged in them, the materials and tools 
used, what is produced or made, etc. These les- 
sons may be made very interesting and profitable. Next give 
lessons on the kinds of houses in which people live, the clothing 
they wear, the food they eat, etc.,— including people in different 
parts of the world. 



GEOGRAPHY. 28 1 

Next give lessons on the races of men — white race, black, red 
(copper - colored), yellow, and brown. Write on the board 
the names of the five races, and opposite each Races of 
the names of peoples belonging to it as given by yie.n. 

the pupils, including Indian, Negro, German, Irish, French, etc. 

Give lessons on the globe, teaching the earth's form, motion 
on its axis (causing day and night), and the general distribu- 
tion of land and water, — the great oceans, conti- 

, • , J • , , , Globe. 

nents, and islands ; next give lessons on the paths 
of the sun and moon in the heavens, rising in the east and 
setting in the west. Teach the horizon, horizontal line, and hori- 
zontal plane ; the zenith and vertical line, using a string with a 
little weight attached as a "plumb-line." Have pupils tell what 
kinds of lines are the edges of the floor and ceiling, the corner 
edges of the walls, etc.; what kinds of planes are the floor, 
ceiling, walls of the room, etc. Review direction in reference 
to the cardinal and semi-cardinal points. 

Give lessons on the sun and moon — rise in the east and set 

in the west, as the earth rotates from west to east ; the path of 

the sun from east to west ; when it rises north of ^. „ 

... , ^ The Sun. 

east and sets north of west ; when it rises south of 

east and sets south of west ; when it is nearest the zenith and 

when farthest from the zenith at noon ; why it is warmer at noon 

than in the morning ; why it is warmer in summer than in 

winter. Give also lessons on the shadows of objects — at what 

hour of the day objects cast the shortest shadow ; at what season 

of the year shadows of objects observed by the pupils are 

shortest at noon ; at what season longest at noon, etc. 



Give lessons on day and night — the light called day and the 
darkness night. Days long in summer and short in winter ; 
nights the reverse ; winter and summer evenings ; , ^ . ^. 

^ . Idea of Time. 

when day and night are equal. What constitutes 
a natural day ; when the day begins — Babylonians began the 
day at sunrise ; the Jews, at sunset ; our day (civil) begins and 
ends at midnight ; number of hours in a day. 

W. P.— 24. 



282 ELEMEN TS OF FED A GOGY. 

Develop the idea of an hour ; also of a minute. Number of 
hours school is in session each half day; how often the clock 
strikes ; length of recess ; how many recesses would make an 
hour? Let the school be silent just one minute; let pupils 
guess how many minutes since the class was called out ; since 
the time of silence ; how long it takes pupils to walk home, etc. 
Teach the number of hours in a day ; minutes in an hour. 

Give lessons on the use of clocks and watches ; explain the 

movements of the hour hand and minute hand ; how to tell the 

time by them; sun-dials used before clocks — how 
Clocks. 

made ; noon-marks, useless on a cloudy day ; King 

Alfred's method of measuring hours by notched candles ; the 
hour-glass, etc. 

Teach the number and names of the days of the week — Sun- 
day the first day, Monday the second, etc.; number of weeks 
in a month ; smce the school-term commenced ; before it closes ; 
from New Year's to New Year's, a year ; from one birth-day to 
another a year; number of months in a year; number of weeks; 
number of days. Time table may be written on the board and 
repeated. 

Give lesson on the four seasons. Spring — vegetation springs 

from the ground ; nature clothes herself with leaves and flowers ; 

days grow longer and nights shorter; the sun at 

Seasons. 3 a a o . 

noon is more nearly overhead ; names of the 
spring months, etc. 

Summer — the suti season; the sun nearly overhead at noon; 
long days and short nights ; haying and harvesting ; grain for- 
merly cut with a sickle, — now with a cradle or a reaper ; grass 
cut with a scythe, — also with a mower ; names of the summer 
months, etc. 

Autumn, also called fall, — leaves, fruit, etc., fall to the 
ground ; the days grow shorter and the nights longer ; position 
of the sun at noon ; the farmer gathers his corn, potatoes, apples, 
etc. ; squirrels gather nuts for winter's use ; frost comes ; change 
in color of leaves; beautiful foliage of trees, etc. 

Winter — the wind season; short days and long nights; sun 
not as near overhead at noon as in summer ; snow keeps the 
earth warm ; falls very deep in Canada ; sometimes buries 
cattle, sheep, etc. ; fences covered ; houses almost covered ; 



GEOGRAPHY. 283 

sleigh-riding on the snow ; snow houses of the Esquimaux ; no 

snow in many countries ; a great many people never saw ice. 

Lastly, teach the geography of the State. If not supplied 

with a good map of the State, draw one in outline on the board. 

Estimate the number of days it would take to 

11 10 ■ ^■rr i- , The State, 

walk across the State m dmerent directions ; locate 

on map the mountains or ranges of hills, the valleys, plains, 
etc.; the rivers and lakes, if any ; the principal cities, railroads, 
canals. Give lessons on the natural productions, animal, veg- 
etable, and mineral ; the occupations of the people ; the colleges, 
public institutions, etc., etc. 



II. The Intermediate or Text-Book Course. 

The first pages of nearly all geographical text-books 
are devoted to definitions, and these should be care- 
fully taught — the definitions of mathemat- Teaching 
ical terms at first omitted. If the prior definitions, 
oral course has been well taught, the pupils will be 
quite familiar with many of these terms. When this 
is not the case, the concepts involved should be care- 
fully taught. The following illustrations will show the 
method to be pursued. 

In teaching the definition of a mountain, begin with 
a known hill and review all the terms applied to it, as 
foot or base, slopes or sides, top or sum- 

1 . I -.->, -, . . Mountains. 

mit, height, etc. Draw a profile view of 
it on board, and have the pupils point out the parts. 
Lead the pupils to the definition, ''A hill is a natural 
elevation of land. ' ' 

Next show a picture of a very high hill, and de- 
scribe a walk to the top of it ; have pupils point out 
its base, summit, east side, west side, and south side ; 
compare the slopes, etc.; and then lead them to form 



284 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

an image or mental picture of a very high mountain. 
Call attention to a village nearly ten miles away, and 
ask pupils to imagine the village and the surrounding 
country lifted up until the village is above the clouds, 
and the school-house at the foot of a very high mount- 
ain — a day's walk up to the village ; mountain two 
miles high. Have them imagine the village removed 
and the top covered with snow (a white cap)«; no trees 
or shrubs around the top ; lower down skirted with 
stunted trees and bushes ; still lower with thick 
forests ; near the base with farms, extending up the 
sides. Speak of the view from the summit, clouds 
beneath skirting the mountain sides, lightning in 
clouds below, no rain on top, etc. The pupils may 
thus realize the meaning of the definition, '^ A inount- 
ai)i is a high elevation of land. 

An image or picture of a mountain chain or range 
may in like manner be occasioned in the pupil's mind, 
Mountain the imagination passing from the known 
Chain. range or ridge of hills to immense mount- 
ain chains or ranges, as the Rocky Mountains or the 
Andes. Describe a journey over the Andes on the 
backs of mules, the journey taking two or three 
weeks ; the passing of railroads over the Alleghany 
Mountains and the Rocky Mountains — through passes 
or gaps. Lead pupils to define mountain chain, table- 
land, gap, or pass. 

Show a picture of a volcano — ashes and melted 

earth and stones (lava) thrown out from the inside. 

Describe the mouth of the volcano, or 

Volcano. . • 1 1 n 

crater ; an eruption, with lava flowing 
down the sides — cities sometimes buried. Give a 



GEOGRAPHY. 285 

vivid description of some great eruption ; describe an 
active volcano ; an extinct volcano. Lead pupils to 
define volcano, lava, crater. 

Starting with the little plains and dales which the 
pupils have seen, lead them to a true conception of a 
large plain'and valley ; all plains not level ; 

. Plain, 

a gradually rolling country a plain. Speak 
of the prairies ; give an idea of the great valleys in 
this country ; of the great treeless plains of the West ; 
of the Sahara, — a plain without grass, shrubs, or 
trees, except in spots called oases. Pupils thus led 
to define a plain, valley, plateau, prairie, desert. 

To teach the definition of a river, begin with the 
stream of water known to the pupils, and review what 
has been taufjht of its source, course, 

° River. 

mouth, banks, channel, bed, branches, 
rapids, falls, etc., and then lead the pupils to form as 
vivid an image as possible of a large river by imagin- 
ing the stream as wide as from the school-house to 
some object a mile distant; so deep that the water 
would flow over the top of a tree if it stood in the 
middle of it ; and so swift that no boy in school could 
keep up with a floating log. Talk about steamboats, 
the head of navigation, freshets, etc.; describe the 
Amazon, the Mississippi, the St. Lawrence ; lead 
pupils to define a spring, a hvok or creek, a river. 

All the land forms above defined may be illustrated 
by the use of the molding-board, and by the same 
means pupils may be assisted in forming a 

. , .... niustrations. 

concept of an island, penmsula, isthmus, 

cape, promontory, etc. ; also of a bay, strait, etc. ; but 

good pictures of the objects, such as are now found 



286 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

in most manuals, represent them much better than 
crude sand forms, and this is specially true of the 
divisions of water. A heavy rain will furnish minia- 
ture islands, peninsulas, isthmuses, capes, bays, straits, 
etc., and for teaching purposes these real objects are 
much superior to any representations that can be made 
either on paper or in sand. It is a mistake for 
teachers to use the signs of things when the real 
things are within easy reach. The pupils' knowledge 
of the objects taught and defined should now be 
tested by recitations. 

The mathematical lines used on maps, the zones, 
and the general distribution of the land and water 
Mathematical masscs sliould be taught by means of a 

Terms. good globc. No attempt should be made, 
at this stage, to teach mathematical definitions, but 
pupils can easily be taught to name and locate the 
parallel lines, the meridian lines, the equator, the 
tropics, the polar circles, and the poles, and they can 
also be taught the seasons of the several zoneSj and 
many interesting facts of climate, productions, etc. 
The final review of this text-book course will be suffi 
ciently early to teach the formal definitions of mathe- 
matical terms; and a full explanation of the change 
of seasons may be deferred until the study of physical 
geography is reached. 

Several lessons should be given on the globe with 

the view of giving the pupils a correct image of the 

Lessons on carth's surfacc, and general ideas of its 

Globe. form, motions, etc. These lessons should 

all be reviewed by the use of a good outline map of 

the world, which, for class instruction, is much superior 



GEOGRAPHY. 28/ 

to an ordinary globe, the latter being too small for 
this purpose. 

No attempt in these preparatory lessons should be 
made to teach details, but the aim should be to give 
the pupils a clear outline picture of the earth's sur- 
face, and a general knowledge of its continents, 
oceans, climate belts, etc. These oral lessons on the 
map may be made intensely interesting by references 
to the typical animals, productions, and peoples of the 
different zones. 

A few lessons may be now assigned on the map of 
the world, and the pupil's knowledge tested by search- 
ing recitations. The essential thing is the placing of 
an outline map before the class when reciting, the chief 
purpose being to form a distinct image of the earth's 
surface in the pupil's mind. 

The pupils are now prepared to begin the study of 
the several grand divisions or continents, beginning 
with North America. The teacher should orai Lessons 
place a good outline map before the class, °" "^^p- 
and, with a pointer and by questions, he should 
direct the pupils in a study of the form of the conti- 
nent, its irregular coast-line, the contrasts between the 
eastern coast-line and the western, the surrounding 
oceans, the indenting gulfs and bays, the adjacent 
islands, the great mountain systems, the river slopes 
and river systems, the great plains and valleys, the 
great lakes, the climate-belts, the characteristic prod- 
ucts of each, the political divisions, etc. The aim of 
these preparatory oral lessons should be to interest 
the pupils in the study of North America, and to give 
them true conceptions of it as a real continent, and 
not simply as a map. 



288 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

The first assigned lesson on the map should be the 
drawing of the continent in outline, and the learning 
of the names of the oceans, seas, and the 
larger gulfs and bays. The pupils should 
be taught to draw the map by some approved 
method. It will be found a good plan to write on 
the board in their order (beginning say at the north- 
east part of the map) the objects to be represented 
and learned, thus : 

Oceans and Seas. Gulfs and Bays. 

Atlantic Ocean, Hudson Bay, 

Caribbean Sea, Gulf of St. Lawrence, 

Pacific Ocean, Bay of Fundy, 

Behring Sea, Chesapeake Bay, 

Arctic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico, 

Gulf of California. 

The first work of the pupils in the recitation should 

be the drawing of the map in outline on the board ; 

and, this being done, they should severallv 

Recitation. c j j 

name and ponit to the oceans and seas in 
their proper order, and also the gulfs and bays. This 
should be done rapidly by the successive pupils, with- 
out any prompting and without the asking of ques- 
tions by the teacher. The next test should be the 
asking of descriptive questions; as, "What ocean east 
of North America?" "What bay in the north- 
eastern part of the continent?" "Of what ocean is 
it a part?" The teacher may next give the names 
and require the pupils to locate the objects with a 
pointer and tn words. All the map exercises should 
be interspersed with interesting information ' ' thrown 
in" by the teacher or "called out" from the pupils. 



GEOGRAPHY. 289 

The Bay of Fundy should thus be associated with its 
high tides, the Gulf of Mexico with the Gulf Stream, 
etc. The map exercises may thus be made to glow 
with interest. 

The next lesson may be devoted to the land projec- 
tions seen in the coast-line of the continent. The 
names of the peninsulas and a few of the more prom- 
inent capes may be written on the board, memorized, 
and recited as above described. The next lesson may 
be the adding of the adjacent islands to the outline 
map as drawn by the pupils, the names of the islands 
to be written on the board in order, and then memor- 
ized and recited, as above. Every island and group 
of islands thus studied should be associated with inter- 
esting information respecting it. The teacher should 
be enthusiastic in his efforts to awaken in his pupils a 
desire to know more of these ocean-girt lands. The 
maps must be made to speak, not simply to the eye, 
but to the mind. 

The succeeding lessons may be devoted to the 
mountains, plateaus, and lower plains; the rivers (in 
systems) and the lakes ; the climate-belts and their 
typical products; the political divisions and their cap- 
itals; the chief cities, etc. The names of the objects 
included in the successive lessons should be written on 
the board in order, the objects drawn by pupils in 
their outline map, the map reproduced on the board, 
and the lesson recited as above. 

It may be well to require the pupils at each recita- 
tion to re-draw the entire map as left at the Map 
last lesson, and then add or insert the ob- Drawing, 
jects that constitute the new lesson, the aim being to 
give the pupils sufficient practice to enable them to 

W. P.-25. 



290 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

draw at last the complete map accurately and with 
dispatch.* No attempt should be made to secure 
finely finished maps. They should be off-hand draw- 
ings, distinct in outline and filling, with few details. 
The drawing of the maps determines the order in 
which the continent is studied and also the order in 
which the topics are recited. The description of the 
continent not only progresses as the drawing of the 
map progresses, but the pupils tell ' ' what they see 
in the map," instead of repeating the text. When 
the map is completed, the pupils are in possession of 
a large amount of information respecting North 
America, and the map represents something more 
than "lines and dots." 

The next step is to review the continent, using a 
good outline wall-map. This is essential to the best 

Review fesults. The maps drawn by the pupils 

Lessons. have fixcd the separate features in the 
mind, but the map, as a whole, is more or less inac- 
curate. The review with an accurate outline map 
before the eyes of the pupils will give them a more 
accurate image of the continent, and this accurate 
mental picture is the important result to be attained. 

In the review, the pupils should locate with a 
pointer and name the successive objects in their order 
rapidly. They should then locate with a pointer and 
also in words. 



*The value of sand-molding as a means of teaching the structure 
or relief of continents and countries is questioned. The sand forms 
give not only imperfect but erroneous ideas of land elevations as 
compared with horizontal distances. Relief maps also give wrong 
impressions, but are less objectionable than sand reliefs. 



GEOGRAPHY. 2gl 

In the final review, there should be no map before 
the class ivhcn reciting. This review may consist of 
two series of exercises: viz., (i) the teacher may ask de- 
scriptive questions and the pupils answer by giving the 
names of the objects described, then adding the de- 
scription ; and (2) the teacher may name objects and 
the pupils give a descriptive answer. 

When the map has been thoroughly reviewed in 
this manner, the map questions in the text-book may 
be used for final review. The questions which relate 
to objects not included in the previous map lessons 
may be omitted by beginning classes. Their mastery 
will, however, give the pupils but little trouble. 

When the map has thus been thoroughly mastered 
{the essential step), the pupils may next study the 
descriptive text.* Most of the facts here g^^^ ^^ 
concisely stated are familiar to the pupils ; Descriptive 
but, in assigning the lessons, it will be 
well for the teacher to "work up" anew the descrip- 
tion, making free use of pointer and outline maps. 
Many interesting facts have already been given in con- 
nection with the map lessons. These and other facts 
can now be so grouped as to give the pupils a vivid 
mental image of the continent as represented by the 
map. At this early stage, lively oral teaching should 
prepare the pupils for the intelligent study of the 
text, and to this end oral lessons and recitations may 
alternate (page 157). 



* It may be claimed that the thorough map study here commended 
gives too much prominence to topography, but it is not a dead and 
meaningless topography that is taught. The map is not taught as an 
end but as a means. 



292 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

The descriptive text may be recited first by ques- 
tions and tlien reviewed by topics, I have always 
preferred special topics, or topics specially 

Recitations. ^, , ^ , ^ . r r- y 

adapted to the contment or country 
studied. This involves more labor on the teacher's 
part, but it obviates the unprofitable forcing of the 
descriptions of all countries into the same form. 

The lengths of rivers, the heights of mountains, the 
areas of countries, the latitude and longitude of 
islands, cities, etc., are best taught by comparison, 
the pupils fixing in memory the numerical representa- 
tives of a few objects, and then learning to estimate 
others by the eye. Needed accuracy may thus be se- 
cured, and sufficiently accurate comparisons may often 
be made in "the mind's eye." A pupil who has a 
definite mental p4cture of the earth's surface, and has 
fixed in memory the latitude of a few well-chosen 
cities, is able to give the latitude of other known 
cities with very great accuracy without referring to 
the map. It is a waste of time to attempt to mem- 
orize the latitude and longitude of numerous cities, 
islands, etc. The populations of cities are also best 
fixed in memory by comparison, a few cities being 
selected as bases. 

It seems unnecessary to add that ilic pitpils should 
neither be required nor permitted to commit the descriptive 
text to memory. The recitation should be so con- 
ducted as to require the pupils to state what they 
have learned in their own language — a few definitions 
excepted. They should not only give the more im- 
portant facts stated in the text, but also facts taught 
orally or acquired by reading. Special pains should 
be taken to secure accuracy and facility in speech. 



GEOGRAPHY. 293 



III. Course in Physical Geography. 

The eighth school year ought to find pupils sufifl- 
ciently familiar with ordinary maps, and with sufficient 
geographical knowledge, to enter successfully on the 
study of physical geography. It seems a mistake to 
continue the study of the facts and phenomena of the 
separate continents and oceans after the pupil is pre- 
pared to study them in their relations to each other 
and to the globe as a physical organism. Physical 
geography gives the facts of common geography a 
new meaning, and no study is better adapted to stim- 
ulate inquiry and thought. The reading of such 
books as Guyot's "Earth and Man," and Ritter's 
"Comparative Geography," would give an intelligent 
pupil a life-long interest in the structure and phe- 
nomena of the globe. The time usually devoted to 
ordinary geography in the higher grades of elementary 
schools should be shortened, and one or two years 
given to an inspiring and broadening study of geogra- 
phy as a science. 



294 ELEMENTS OE PEDAGOGY. 



ARITHMETIC. 

The teaching of arithmetic passes through three 
somewhat distinct phases or courses, the first covering 
a period of two to three years, the second about three 
years, and the third two to three years. These courses 
may be called : 

1. The Primary Course. 

2. The Elementary Course [Book]. « 

3. The Completing Course. 

The most that will be attempted in these pages is 
to sketch the characteristic features of the methods 
employed in these several phases or courses of in- 
struction. 

I. The Primary Course. 

The first step in teaching a number is to develop an 
idea of the number itself, and this can only be done 
by objects. A number is neither a word nor a figure, 
and hence it can not be taught by teaching its name 
or the figure or figures that express it. A child may 
learn the names of the numbers not only from one to 
ten, but from one to one hundred, and not have, as 
a result, a clear idea of a single number named. Ex- 
perience shows that clear ideas of the primary numbers 
are slowly acquired, and that they need to be carefully 
taught. 

The aim of the first series of lessons in number is to 

teach objectively the numbers from one to ten inchisivc — 

First the primary or digital numbers. The initial 

Lessons. excrciscs in teaching these numbers include 



ARITHMETIC. 295 

numbering, combining, separating, and taking away 
groups of objects, first in sight and then not in sight, 
but easily imagined. The teaching of each successive 
number may include the following steps : 

1. The numbering of the objects in any group from 
one to ten inclusive, xvitJwiit coiinthig. 'i^A^'y^Z^^^v^ 

2. The combining of any two groups whose sum 
does not exceed ten, zvitJioiit coiuiting; and (2) the sep- 
arating of the group thus formed into the two groups 
that compose it. 

3. The separating of any group not exceeding ten 
into the two smaller groups that compose it, and then 
taking successively each of the two smaller groups 
thus found from the original group. 

4. The combining, separating, and taking away of 
groups of objects in sight, and then not in sight, but 
easily imagined, — no group exceeding ten. 

5. The comparing of two groups of objects, in sight 
and not in sight, to see how many objects in one 
group more or less than in the other. 

6. The applying of the processes learned to the so- 
lution oi easy problems involving a simple exercise of 
the imagination and judgment. 

The exercises in numbering are intended to develop 
the power to recognize at sight, zvitJiotit counting, the 
number of objects in any group not exceeding ten — 
a power essential to the easy mastery of the other 
exercises. It is claimed by primary teachers of wide 
experience that the majority of children, when they 
first enter school, can not give at sight the number 
of objects in a group exceeding three. A few weeks 
of drill will, however, enable them to number instantly 
any group not exceeding ten. This may be done by 



r 



296 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

an unconscious separation of the larger groups into 
two smaller groups, and the combining of these ; but, 
howsoever done, the act is practically instantaneous. 
This perceptive power is not only fundamental in 
combining and separating groups of objects, but it is 
also of great value in practical life. 

Special attention is called to the importance of avoid- 
ing in these objective exercises the too common prac- 
tice of counting by ones. The numbering, combining, 
and separating of groups of objects by counting leads 
to the pernicious habit of adding and subtracting num- 
bers by counting, a habit that must be overcome 
before a pupil can learn to add or subtract numbers 
as wholes. When a child can number a group of 
three objects at sight, he should be taught a group of 
four objects, as three and one, or one more than three, 
and not simply as four objects. It is not only unnec- 
essary to number four objects by counting one, two, 
three, four, but this counting is likely to give the 
child the erroneous idea that the first object is one, 
the second two, the third three, the fourth four. The 
child must see the entire group as four objects, and 
when he has learned that four objects are also three 
objects and one object, or two objects and two objects, 
he has a clear idea of the number four. The easy 
and quick perception of the sum of any two groups 
of objects, present or imagined, sum not exceeding 
ten, is the first step in the art of adding and subtract- 
ing numbers. 

The combining, separating, and subtracting of groups 
of objects not in sight may be introduced as soon as 
the pupils have acquired the power to combine, sepa- 
rate, and subtract groups of objects in sight. The true 



ARITHMETIC. 297 

order is first the combining, separating, and subtract- 
ing of groups of objects in sight; and, second, the 
combining, separating, and subtracting of groups of 
objects not in sight, and the second step may, after 
a few lessons, immediately follow the first. 

The purely objective and concrete exercises, de- 
scribed above, may, in due time, be fol- Abstract 

lowed by: Numbers. 

7. The adding, separating, and subtracting of the 
corresponding abstract numbers. 

8. The making of the figures one by one that ex- 
press the successive digital numbers taught. 

9. Board and slate exercises corresponding to the 
oral exercises; and also exercises in adding numbers 
expressed by figures written in columns, sums not 
exceeding ten. 

These drills with abstract numbers may properly be 
introduced early in the year, but so strong is the 
tendency of teachers to use abstract numbers to the 
neglect of needed objective and concrete exercises, 
that it may be wise to recommend that abstract num- 
bers be entirely excluded from the first year's course. 
If this be done, there is no danger that their use will 
be omitted or neglected in the succeeding years. 

This tendency of teachers to use abstract numbers 
in primary lessons in arithmetic, is largely due to the 
fact that it is easier to drill pupils on words and other 
symbols than it is to teach them real knowledge, —a 
fact sadly illustrated in the memoriter, word, and 
figure drills which have so long characterized school 
instruction. 

It may be a question whether children should be 
taught the figures, and the use of them in slate exer- 



298 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

cises, in connection with these first-step lessons. This 
doubtless depends on the age of the children taught. 
If children are admitted to school as early as five 
years of age, the teaching of figures may be wisely 
deferred until the second year, or, at least, until the 
latter part of the first year. When pupils enter school 
at the age of six years and upward, the figures may 
be taught after a few days, at the close of the different 
series of lessons, and slate and board exercises may be 
used as early as the number five or six is reached. 

The skill acquired in making figures the first year 
will promote the progress of the pupils the second 
year, and the danger that the use of the figures will 
lead pupils into the error of confounding figures with 
the numbers which they represent, — an error common 
among pupils who, from the first, use figures as actual 
numbers — can easily be avoided. The teacher should 
take pains to make a clear distinction between num- 
bers and their signs — a distinction as obvious as that 
between an idea and its word— and, what is even more 
important, he should not in speech treat figures and 
numbers as identical. It is wholly unnecessary, for 
example, to direct pupils to add the figures 6 and 7. 
It is not only more accurate, but as easy, to say the 
numbers six and seven, or, more briefly, six and seven. 

There is a kindred error in confounding numbers 
and objects — the group of objects that represents a 
Abuse of number to the eye, being considered the 
Objects. number itself. The teacher says, "Show 
me the number three," and the pupil holds up three 
fingers. Now, it is clearly not the group of fingers that 
is the number three, but the tJnrencss of the fingers — 
the how many in the group. This suggests the possi- 



ARITHMETIC. 299 

bility of keeping pupils numbering-, combining, and 
separating groups of objects in sight so long that it 
may be difficult to unsense their conception of number 
— to secure the easy apprehension of number without 
reference to sensible objects. Pupils should soon pass 
from groups of objects in sight to those not in sight, 
and early, but not too early, to the abstract numbers.* 



The aims of the second series of lessons in number 
are (i) to teach the numbers from eleven to twenty 
inclusive, and their representation by fig- second 
ures ; and (2) to teach the adding, sub- series, 
tracting, and analyzing of numbers, the amounts and 
minuends, and the numbers analyzed, not exceeding 
twenty. 

The steps or drills to attain the second aim are as 
follows : 

1. The adding of any two digital numbers without 
counting, and the subtracting of each from their sum. 

2. The separating of each number, not exceeding 
twenty, into any two digital numbers that compose 



*The statement has been made tliat a child can not think an 
abstract number. If the word "think" is used in the sense of 
image, the statement is obviously true, for all images or sense-con- 
cepts are necessarily particular and concrete. But if the word think 
be used in the sense of apprehend, the statement is misleading. No 
one really knows a number until he apprehends it abstractly; that 
is, until he apprehends the abstract number. When a child can 
think seven as more than three without imaging seven and three 
particular objects, he apprehends both seven and three as abstract 
numbers. 

" Nothing is a surer sign of high intellectual capacity than the 
power of quickly seeing and easily manipulating ideas of a very ab' 
stract nature." — Francis Galton. 



300 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

it, and the subtracting of each number thus found from 
the original number. 

3. The adding of two or more equal numbers, 
amounts not exceeding twenty; and the separating of 
any number, not exceeding twenty, into all the equal 
numbers that compose it. 

4. The applying of the processes learned to the so- 
lution of practical problems, involving a simple exercise 
of the imagination and judgment. 

5. Blackboard and slate exercises in addition and 
subtraction, amounts and minuends not exceeding 
twenty. 

The power to perceive the sum of any two digital 
numbers without counting, and the difference between 
either of two digital numbers and their sum, is the 
basis of the art of accurate and rapid computation. If 
this power be acquired the first two years of school, 
the time devoted to the teaching of number has been 
wisely employed. 

The teacher should keep in mind, when taking the 
third step above, that the adding of equal numbers, as 
Part and Fac- four 3's, is not multiplication, and that the 
tor Processes, separating of a number into the equal num- 
bers that compose it, is not numerical division. The 
word "times," and the factor signs, X and -^, should 
not be used in connection with these exercises. They 
are exercises in addition and subtraction, part proc- 
esses, and only the part signs, -f and — , should be 
used. 

It is believed that nothing is gained by combining 
the processes of multiplication and division with those 
of addition and subtraction in the foregoing exercises. 
There is no such immediate connection between these 



ARITHMETIC. 3OI 

two sets of processes as requires the teaching of them 
together. The concepts and processes of addition and 
subtraction relate to numbers as composed of parts, 
and, being inverse processes, should be taught to- 
gether. The concepts and processes of multiphcation 
and division relate to numbers as composed oi factors, 
and, being inverse processes, should likewise be taught 
together. But there is nothing in the relation of these 
two sets of inverse processes to each other that necessi- 
tates cr justifies the teaching of them from the first as 
correlates. On the contrary, there are strong reasons 
against the mixing up of these two sets of relations in 
the child's first lessons in number. 

The primary and fundamental processes in number 
are addition and subtraction, and the natural and best 
way to teach a child to add and subtract numbers is 
to give him exercises involving these processes. Exer- 
cises in multiplying and dividing numbers can render 
little assistance in these first lessons. In the order of 
acquisition, the processes of multiplication and division 
naturally follow those of addition and subtraction ; and 
skill in the latter makes the mastery of the former 
easy. Nothing is gained by alternating these two sets 
of inverse processes in the first lessons in number. 

The addition of equal numbers and the separation of 
a number into equal numbers (third step, p. 300) may 
be accompanied by exercises to develop the idea of a 
fraction. These drills should first include the division of 
an object, as an apple, a piece of paper, etc., into equal 
parts, as halves, fourths, thirds, sixths, etc., and later 
the division of groups of objects into equal parts, and 
naming one part, two parts, etc. The fractions should 
first be expressed by words only, and later by figures. 



302 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

Nothing is gained in these early lessons by attempting 
to teach the fraction processes, — addition, subtraction, 
multiplication, and division. 



The aims of the third series of lessons in the primary 
course are (i) to teach the prodtict of any two digital 
^^. ^ . numbers, and (2) to teach the division of 

Third Series. _ ^ ' 

this product by each of its two factors. 
The steps or drills to attain these aims are : 

1. The finding of the number corresponding to the 
product of any two digital numbers, by adding one 
of the numbers to itself continuously as many times 
as there are units in the other given number, less one^ 
or (2), better, by adding one of the numbers to its 
p'^oduct by a number one less than the other number. 

2. The associating of the product of any two digital 
numbers with these numbers, so that this product may 
be discerned instantly, ^vithout adding, when the two 
given numbers are presented to the mind as factors. 

3. The teaching of the division of any product by 
each of its two digital factors as the inverse of the 
process of their multiplication. 

4. Slate and board exercises in multiplication and 
division. 

It will be noticed that the finding of the number 
which corresponds to the product of any two digital 
numbers (first step), is not multiplication proper, but a 
preparato>y process. This number may also be found 
by subtraction. The number corresponding to the 
product of 4 times 5 may, for example, be found by 
adding four 5's, or by adding 5 to 15 (three 5's), or 
by taking 5 from 25 (five 5's). 



ARITHMETIC. 303 

In teaching the multiplication of the digital numbers, 
the teacher should aim to associate these numbers, two 
and two, with their products so directly that the mind 
passes from factors to product by one instantaneous 
act. The mind should pass from 4X5 to 20 as di- 
rectly and immediately as it passes from 4 + 5 to 9. 
There should be no adding in the first act and no 
counting by ones in the second. 

The association of the digital numbers, two and two, 
with their products, makes possible a distinct numer- 
ical process, called imdtiplication, and its inverse proc- 
ess, called division. The existence of these distinct 
processes is shown by the fact that they are uniformly 
expressed by terms that are never applied to addition 
and subtraction. No mathematical terms are more dis- 
tinct than the terms add and imdtiply, sum and product ; 
subtract and divide, difference and quotient. Moreox'er, 
the part signs, -|- and — , and the factor signs, X and 
-^, run through mathematics from elementary arith- 
metic to the calculus, and they never indicate the 
same process \ a Y. b never me^ns a + b, and a -^ b 
never means a — b. ■ 

The three series of lessons above described consti- 
tute the primary course in number; and, for full and 
detailed methods of teaching these lessons, use of 
the reader is referred to the author's ''Oral Text-book. 
Lessons in N^ianber." It must suffice to add that when 
the first two series of lessons are completed, the pu- 
pils will be prepared to use an elementary arithmetic 
with advantage. The putting of a suitable arithmetic 
into the hands of pupils as early as the third year will 
not only increase their interest and otherwise promote 
their progress in number, but it will greatly relieve the 



304 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

teacher of unnecessary labor — not an unimportant con- 
sideration. 

II. The Elementary Course [Book]. 

The aim of this course is to teach all elementary- 
processes with both integral and fractional numbers, 
and also those applications which are most frequently 
used in business and common life, including United 
States money, common measures (not metric), men- 
suration, percentage (elements), and simple interest. 
The integral numbers used are larger than those in the 
primary course, and the fundamental processes are 
more clearly differentiated, the processes of addition, 
subtraction, multiplication, and division being treated 
separately, this being specially true of the dissimilar 
written processes. 

During the first year of this course there will be 

little occasion for the use of objects, all the primary 

Use of concepts and processes used having been 

Objects. taught in tlie prior course. It is a waste 
of time to keep pupils of this grade dealing with the 
sensible representatives of numbers when they are 
familiar with the numbers themselves. The use of 
objects is a means, not an end. A simple numerical 
process may be made difficult fo a child by an elaborate 
objective illustration, and, besides, a pupil who can 
easily understand such illustrations, when presented in 
a book, does not need them. The complex illustrations 
of the decimal notation, both of integers and fractions, 
found in some elementary arithmetics, is an example 
of this misuse, if not abuse, of the objective method. 
The pupil who has been properly taught the expres- 



ARITHMETIC. 305 

sion of numbers from i to lOO and then to looo, has 
the key to the decimal notation, and all that he needs 
to master the system is a well -graded series of exer- 
cises for practice. 

All new concepts and all initial steps in new 
processes should be taught objectively, or, when the 
presence of objects is not necessary, with concrete 
numbers. The common money units in United States 
money, and the more common measures which are the 
basis of denominate numbers and mensuration, should 
be taught objectively, and many of these units of meas- 
ure should be taught in the primary course, and always 
by presenting and using the actual measures. No 
pupil should memorize tables of denominate numbers 
before he has clear concepts of the measures back of 
them. The memorizing of the table is the end and 
not the beginning of such training. 

All of the new written processes in elementary arith- 
metic should be introduced by inductive oral exercises, 
usually with concrete numbers, the tran- q^^, ^^^ 
sition from the clearly apprehended oral written 

.... , Exercises. 

process to the written bemg easy and nat- 
ural. An important condition of success in teaching 
elementary arithmetic is the skillful union of oral or 
mental processes and written processes. The essential 
thing is the wise selection and grading of the inductive 
examples, and the training of the pupils in their oral 
solution until the mental process is clear and familiar. 
The transition to the written process is then easy. 
All that is necessary, in most cases, is to draw out 
from the pupils by questions and put on the black- 
board the written solutions of two or three of the oral 
examples in connection with the oral solutions. But 

W. p.— 26. 



306 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

this step should not be taken until the inductive exer- 
cises have all been recited orally. The pupils should 
first master the oral processes, and then be led to pass 
from these to the written processes. 

All the written problems assigned for a lesson, should 
be solved by the pupils on slate or paper, aiui the so- 
lutions should be brougJit to the recitation for the teacher s 
inspection a>id approval. The solutions should be made 
in an approved form, though uniformity is not neces- 
sary, and they should be arranged in a neat and sys- 
tematic manner. A little instruction will enable pupils 
to make an economic use of space in slate and black- 
board work, and, at the same time, present each solu- 
tion in an intelligible form. When the solutions of 
problems are properly arranged and written, two to 
three minutes will suffice to inspect the slate work of 
a large class. 

In the oral exercises in number given in the primary 

course, there should be no attempt to teach the log- 

orai ical analysis of the little problems, and 

Analysis. generally nothing is gained by requiring a 
formal statement of the reasons for processes and re- 
sults. The oral solutions in the elementary course 
should also be concise and simple. Young pupils are 
not helped by an attempt to give a minute and formal 
statement of every condition involved in a problem ; 
and, at no stage of their advancement, is the reason- 
ing faculty trained by the repetition of what has been 
aptly called "logical verbiage." It is now admitted 
that the elaborate logical analyses of problems which 
pupils were formerly required to give in what is called 
"mental arithmetic," was a serious hindrance to the 
mastery of the processes and principles of arithmetic, 



ARITHMETIC. 307 

and it is equally evident that it was an injury to the 
thinking power of children. Much of the glibbest 
logical analysis, once the pride of so many teachers, 
was the result of the worst form of rote teaching, the 
analyses being committed to memory by the pupils, 
and repeated without any wholesome exercise of the 
logical faculty. 

This wide abuse of the so-called "mental arithme- 
tic" has led many teachers to underestimate the value 
of analytic drills in teaching arithmetic ; and, as a con- 
sequence, they have a small place, if any, in their in- 
struction. The clear logical analysis of problems has 
a very important place in arithmetical instruction, and 
hence the so-called mental problems should be nu- 
merous and their right solution should be taught with 
as much thoroughness as the written problems, espe- 
cial care being always taken to adapt the form of 
analysis to the capacity and advancement of the pupils. 

The old method of teaching arithmetical processes 
by requiring pupils, first, to commit to memory a 
formal rule, and then to solve the prob- 

' ^ Rules. 

lems "according to the rule," and Avith 
constant reference to it, was long since discarded by 
the most successful teachers. Experience has shown 
that the rule is not only useless as a means of teaching 
numerical processes, but that it is an actual hindrance. 
It has also shown that a knowledge of the process is 
essential to the proper teaching of the rule. Hence, 
''processes before rides,'' and ''rules tJiroiigJi processes,'' 
have been generally accepted as wise maxims for the 
teaching of elementary arithmetic. In teaching any 
process, attention should be called to the succetsixe 
steps, and the pupils required to describe these steps in 



';.i 






3o8 ELEMENTS OF FED AGOG Y. 

words, but all this should be done with direct reference 
to the mastery of the process as such. 

When the formal rule is taught, it should be derived 
from the process by the pupils, under the guidance of 
the teacher. The true order of the successive steps is 
as follows: 

1 . A mastery of the process without reference to t he *, 
author's rule. / • -' ' ^ " \.' A. TZ^l^ 

2. The recognition and statement of the successive 
steps of the process in their order. ^ ^'l^f^ 

3. The combination of these several statements into i^ 
a general statement. ( 

4. A comparison of the general statement thus 
formed with the author's rule. 

5. The memorizing of the approved rule. 

The definitions should, in like manner, be taught 
inductively, and they should first be stated by the pu- 
pils under the teacher's guidance.* 

The above sugsrestions for teachiner ele- 

General . , 

Method. mentary arithmetic may be summarized, as 
follows : 

1. The oral solution of inductive examples with 
small numbers. 

2. The induction of the written process from the 
oral solutions, under the teacher's guidance. 

3. The solution of the inductiv^e examples on slate 
or paper by the written process, — not by the analytic 
process, which should be oral. 

4. The solution of the written problems on slate or 
paper. 



* For a practical illustration of this method of teaching rules and 
definitions, see Oral Lessons in A^Knthcy, pp. 185-187. 



ARITHMETIC. 309 

5. The induction of the rule from the written proc- 
ess and the memorizing of the approved rule. 

6. The induction and memorizing of definitions and 
principles. 

III. The Completing Course. 

The instruction that completes the course in arith- 
metic, should differ from the elementary in several im- 
portant particulars, (i) The problems should be more 
difficult, and the analyses of mental problems more 
logical and formal. (2) More attention should be 
given to abbreviated processes of practical value. (3) 
The applications to business, the arts, etc., should be 
wider, this being specially true in mensuration and 
percentage. (4) More freedom should be given the 
pupils in the mechanical forms of written work, and 
special encouragement should be given to original 
solutions. (5) There should be a more careful de- 
velopment of formulas and principles, and an increased 
attention generally to the science of numbers. (6) The 
higher processes, as proportion, involution and evolu- 
tion, etc., should be included, but all obsolete rules 
should be excluded. 

The increasing use of the metric measures in science, 
the arts, and in commerce, claims a place for the sys- 
tem in this higher course, and it should Metric 
be taught in a practical manner. Great Measures. 
care should be taken to make the pupils practically 
familiar with the metric units, and this can best be 
accomplished by the actual use of the metric measures. 
To this end, the school should at least be supplied with 
a meter measure, a liter measure, and gram and kil- 



3 I O ELEMENTS OF FED A GOGY. 

ogram weights, and the pupils should have much prac- 
tice in the use of these measures. With the meter 
they should measure the length and width of the 
school-room floor, the teacher's desk, the blackboard, 
etc. ; also the distance between objects in the school- 
room, in the school-yard, etc. ; with the liter they 
should measure water, grain, etc.; and with the gram 
and kilogram they should weigh different articles. It 
is only by long practice that pupils can be made as 
familiar with the metric measures as they are with the 
common measures. 

At first no attention should be given to the metric 
equivalents, and the only comparisons made between 
the metric measures and the common measures should 
be by the eye. It can easily be shown that the meter 
is a little more than a yard ; the liter, about a quart ; 
and a kilogram, a little more than two pounds. It 
will be time enough to teach the exact numerical 
equivalents, when pupils are so familiar with the metric 
measures that they can think of them without any ref- 
erence to the common measures. When a pupil is 
told, for example, that a room is eight meters long 
and five meters wide, he should be able to compre- 
hend its dimensions without reducing to yards or feet; 
and this result can only be attained by the continued 
use of the meter in measuring distances. 

The early introduction of the metric equivalents and 
the reductions of metric numbers to like common de- 
nominate numbers, are mistakes which have resulted 
in much confusion. This reduction is tJie final step in 
teaching the metric system. 



MORAL TRAINING. 



■^a") 



MORAL TRAINING. 



THE WILL. 



One of the most obvious verities in man's conscious 
experience is the fact that the feehngs are the soHc- 
itors and prompters of action ; but it is an equally 
obvious fact that the feelings do not determine or ne- 
cessitate action. We are as conscious of the power 
to resist and even supplant our impulses and desires, 
as we are of their solicitations. The soul is endowed 
with the power to act in accordance with soHciting de- 
sires, or to resist and reject their appeals (p. 30) ; and 
hence we feel a sense of guilt when we permit a wrong 
desire to pass out into an act, and also when we con- 
sciously cherish or harbor it. 

This self-active, self- determining power of the soul 
is called the Will. It is by the power of the will that 
the soul resists its clamorous appetites, and ^ „,. 

^^ ' The Will. 

brings them into subjection to reason. 
"Appetite," says Hooker, "is the will's solicitor, but 
the will is the appetite's controller;" and what is true 
of the will's relation to the appetites is true of its re- 
lation to all the impulses of the sensibility.* By an 



■■■■It will be shown later (p. 316) that this control may be lost by- 
habitual surrender in excessive indulgence. 

W. P.— 27. (3'3) 



3 1 4 ELEMENTS OF FED AGOG V. 

abiding purpose, the soul may subject all its lower 
feelings to the higher, and even to the control of a 
moral principle. The forming of such a supreme pur- 
pose has been to many a man the beginning of a new 
moral life. 

So far as we are able to interpret the actions of 
brute animals, their actions are necessitated by feel- 
ings, and especially by their bodily feel- 

Moral Action. ^ ' '■ ■' ■' _ ■' 

ings — sensations, appetites, and instincts — 
and it is for this reason that the actions of the brutes 
have no moral quality. If man were endowed only 
with the power to feel and know, all of his actions 
would, in like manner, be determined by the strongest 
impulses at the time, and these would be necessitated 
by conditions over which he would have no control. 
This would relieve man of all responsibility for his 
acts, and, as a consequence, human conduct would 
have no more moral quality than the actions of brutes. 
We thus reach the important truth that it is tJie volun- 
tary or zvill clement in hinnan action that gives it moral 
quality. 

An act of will involves a choice between alternative 
acts. It may be a choice between soliciting motives 
Acts of the or a choice between a response to one of 
'^'"- their appeals and a rejection of all. When 
only one feeling makes the appeal, it still involves a 
choice between a response to the appeal and its rejec- 
tion. But choice is not a determinative act of will. 
It is only the initiative act, and it must pass into a 
purpose to act in accordance with the choice made, 
or directly Into an executing volition. A choice is a 
present act; a purpose is a state of will, reaching from 



THE WILL. " 315 

a choice to its realization. A young man may, for 
example, consider the alternatives of taking a course 
in college or accepting a clerkship in a store, and he 
may wisely choose the college course-; but this choice 
may never take him to college. To be determinative, 
the choice must pass into a settled purpose that can 
only cease with the realization of the chosen end. 
When a purpose thus reaches into the future, controll- 
ing all related choices and purposes, it becomes a 
governing piirpose. 

But neither a choice nor a purpose can pass out into 
a deed until it is executed by a volition — the final de- 
terminative act of the will. A volition is the command 
which the will issues to all the powers of the soul and 
the subject body to attain the chosen end — to execute 
the settled purpose. Choices and purposes are thus 
manifested in actions. They pass from the soul, where 
they may long have been hidden, into an overt act or 
deed. 

It is this power of the soul to choose and to put its 
choices into purposes and volitions, that makes man 
responsible for his conduct, and hence a Freedom 
moral being; and this involves the freedom ofwiii. 
of the soul in willing or, more briefly, tJie freedom of 
the will. The moral character of a choice or purpose 
necessarily depends upon the power of the will, in the 
identical circumstances, to make a different choice or 
purpose. When this free power to act differently does 
not exist, the act of the will is a necessity, and, as 
such, has no moral quality. It is true that the pres- 
ence of motives necessitates the action of the will in 
some direction, but it does not necessitate its action 
in a particular direction. The will acts in view of 



3 1 6 ELEMENTS OF FED A GOGY. 

motives, but is free to determine wJiat its act shall be. 
"Motives," says Porter, "impel the will, but they do 
not compel it." 

The assumpticJn that every act of will is necessitated 
by the strongest motive, either frees man of all moral 
responsibility for his actions or makes him responsible 
for the motives that necessitate his actions. Each of 
these alternatives is in the face of universal conscious- 
ness. The universal sense of guilt for known wrong 
acts is proof of man's responsibility for them, and no 
fact of conscious experience is more certain than the 
presence and appeal of motives for which man is not 
responsible. Man can be morally responsible for the 
appeal of a motive only when its presence to the soul 
is due to his own free act, and this involves the free 
choice of its presence. A desire to do a wrong act may 
be cherished or harbored by a concurring act of the 
will, as is true in a wish, and this complex act or state 
may be sinful; but the sin is in the concurrence of the 
will, and not in the mere presence of the desire. The 
truth is that man as a moral being is responsible for 
the wrong desires which he has not endeavored to sup- 
plant and control, and especially for those which he 
has voluntarily cherished and strengthened ; and this 
responsibility involves the freedom of the soul in will- 
ing. It is by a concurring act of a free will that the 
soul is brought into bondage to wrong and sinful ap- 
petites, affections, and desires. It is thus that moral 
freedom, man's highest birthright, is limited, and may 
be even lost. 

These truths fully accord with the principle that 
power and tendency are the abiding results of all psy- 
chical action (p. 31). This is specially true of the acts 



THE WILL. 317 

of the will. Every right choice in the face of a wrong 
desire makes right choosing easier, and is a new moral 
force in the life. "Every choice," says 

„ 1 • r • >. T Character. 

Goethe, "is for eternity. It is not only 
true that choices and purposes leave an abiding trend 
and energy in the soul, but the current and quality of 
the feelings are largely determined by the concurrence 
or control of the will. Every moral act not only in- 
volves an act of will, but character, the resultant in 
power and tendency of all the moral acts of life, is 
eminently a state of zuill. Character is not a distinct- 
ive mark, as the word implies, but an inner force and 
tendency. It is both a product and a principle — an 
effect and a cause. 

But let us see a little more clearly the relation of 
the intellect, the sensibility, and the will in moral ac- 
tion. This relation is partially indicated by 

, 1 . Powers 

the statement that choices and purposes are conjoined in 
occasioned by feelings, and that feelings, the conduct, 
bodily feelings excepted, are awakened by knowledge. 
In the marvelou interaction of the soul's powers, in- 
tellectual activity awakens emotions and affections, 
which pass ovrr into desires, and these make their 
appeals to the wiil It is thus seen that all three of 
the great powers of the soul are conjoined in conduct, 
which Matthew Arnold says is "three fourths of life," 
but the final determining power in this trinity of pow- 
ers is the will. 

It may be added that the will is not only the soul's 
autocrat in moral action, but it is also the attendant 
and director of nearly all the conscious activities of 
the mind. "The normal man," says Schopenhauer, 
"is two thirds will." 



3 1 8 ELEMENTS OF FED A GOGY. 

The Training of the Will. 

It follows from the above truths that effective moral 
training involves the right training of the will, and this 
touches the very root of the question of method, now 
to be considered. 

The fact that the act-impelling desires are awakent 
by knowledge shows that ijistrttction in duty has a vital 
Moral relation to the training of the will, and 
Instruction, hencc to moral training. Nor is it suffi- 
cient that such instruction arouse the feelings, and, to 
this end, be concrete and illustrative. It should in- 
creasingly lift duty and obligation to the domain of 
the higher motives of reason and conscience — to the 
plane o^ moral principle. It should be both incidental 
and regular, and its ends should be intelligently appre- 
hended and systematically pursued and attained 

The determining relation of the will to moral action 
shows that the culture of the feelings is a means and 
Culture of ^ot an end of moral education. Vital moral 
Feelings, training can not end with emotions or de- 
sires ; it must issue in right action. It is true that 
the feelings furnish impelling motives, and are other- 
wise important conditions of moral action, but they 
result in moral character only when they have their 
issue in an act of the will. The soul may, for ex- 
ample, be swept with emotions of pity, compassion, 
and sympathy, but if these feelings do not pass into 
a purpose or out into a deed, they will develop char- 
acter very little. On the contrary, the indulgence of 
excessive feeling without action enfeebles the will and 
makes the character limp and flaccid. It is for this 



TRAINING OF THE WIIL. 319 

reason that the theater has never been a very etfective 
school of morals. It is not the men and women who 
shed most tears over spectacular wrongs, that are the 
most ready and heroic in effort to right the wrongs in 
actual life. 

Effective moral training involves the discipline of the 
will to act habitually in view of those motives which re- 
lease the soul from bondage to low and sclfisJi Discipline un- 
desires, and make the conscience regal in the ^" Motives. 
life. The vital importance of this training in school 
is emphasized by the fact that, while school life affords 
excellent opportunities for it, both the instruction and 
the discipline of the school may actually enfeeble and 
dissipate will power. Diligence in study and outward 
obedience may both be secured by means that prac- 
tically divorce conduct and right motive. 

It is easy to hedge in a child's conduct by author- 
itative restraints, and to urge him forward by artificial 
incitements; but when the restraining hedge Training for 
is broken down, and the temporary incite- liberty. 
ment is wanting, then will appear the vital need of 
the power and habit of self- impulsion and self-guid- 
ance. The most dangerous transition in a youth's life 
is that which carries him from the authoritative con- 
trol of the family and the school to the responsibility 
of untried liberty. The shores of this perilous strait 
of human life are strewn with wrecked manhood. 

The home-life and the school-life of the child should 
prepare him for this transition to freedom by effective 
training in self-control and self- guidance, and, to this 
end, the will must be disciplined by an increasing use 
of motives that quicken the sense of right and make 



3 20 ELEMENTS OF FED A GOGY. 

the conscience regal in conduct. It is not enough that 
the teacher secures dihgence in study, good order, 
and proper behavior in school. The vital question is. 
To what motives does he appeal in gaining these eiidsf 
If these be low and selfish, the results, howsoever fair 
in appearance, will be like the apples of Sodom in the 
life. No temporary interest in study, no external 
propriety of conduct, can compensate for the habitual 
subjection of the will to the dominancy of the lower 
motives. The pregnant truth is that no training of 
the will can stand the supreme test of conduct that 
does not put its acts in harmony with the imperative 
OUGHT — the last word in the vocabulary of reason and 
duty. 

School Incentives. 

The above facts throw a flood of light on the ques- 
tion of school incentives — the central element in will 
training. 

The most obvious classification of school incentives 
is their division into artificial and natural incentives. 

Artificial incentives are those rewards or incitants 

which arc thrust between the pupil and the natural 

consequences of study and conduct, and 

Incentives, tlius bccomc the immediate ends of effort. 

They include such incentives .as : 
T. Pnzes, — as books, medals, merit-tickets, etc. 

2. Privileges, — as holidays, early dismissals from school, 

choice of seats, positions as monitors, etc. 

3. Immunities, — as exemptions from duty, tasks, etc. 

These are the lowest incentives ordinarily used in 
school, the propulsive or fear motives possibly ex- 



SCHOOL INCENTIVES. 321 

cepted ; but experience shows that they do not lack 
power. They rnay be so incorporated into the disci- 
pHne of a school, and so intensified as to become its 
very hfe — the all-absorbing end of desire and effort. 
Many a school has been wrought up to a high pitch 
of interest and effort by the enthusiastic use of the 
reward of a monthly holiday for the attainment of a 
given standing in study, deportment, punctuality, and 
regularity. It seems unnecessary to add that these 
artificial incentives do not stand the decisive test of 
character. They may stimulate effort, but they bring 
the will into captivity to the present and selfish, and 
feed the moral nature on husks. 

Natural incentives are those motives that attend ef- 
fort and attainment as a natural result or consequence. 
They range from the more or less selfish to Natural 
those high motives that beckon the soul to incentives, 
duty, and stir it "with the joy of pure obligation" — ■ 
the highest joy of life. They spring up in the path- 
way of duty, and are the appointed attendants on 
human effort through life. 

From the long catalogue of natural incentives, let us 
select the seven most used in school — the "Royal 
Seven," as they may be called. These are: 

1 . A desire for stamiing or rank, including the desire to 

excel. 

2. A desire for approbation — of equals and superiors. 

3 . A desire for activity and power. 

4. A desire for knowledge. 

5 . The hope of future good. 

6. A sense of Jionor. 

7. A sense of duty. 



322 ELEMENTS OF FED A GOGY. 

A glance at these seven incentives will suffice to show 

that, in their influence on the will, and hence moral 

character, they rise from the first to the sev- 

and Lower Guth ; and a little reflection will show that 

Phases. eacli of them has higher and lower phases. 

The desire for standing may be readily lowered, even 
to an artificial incentive, as is always the case when 
the sign of rank is made the absorbing end of effort. 
In too many schools the desire for a high class-mark 
or a high "percent" in examination is the ruling 
passion of the more ambitious pupils. They cram for 
per cents, and they sometimes cheat for per cents; and 
this unfortunately is not confined to elementary schools. 

The desire for approbation becomes, in its lower 
phase, a craving for unmerited praise or flattery ; while 
its higher phase includes a desire for the^ approval of 
the wise and good, and, still higher, for self-approval, 
which Porter calls "the most blessed of joys. " 

The desire for activity and power may have its roots 
in the coveting of self-glory; or it may spring from a 
noble desire to honor one's powers, and realize that 
sense of efficiency, which is one of the deepest springs 
of human action. 

The desire for knowledge may be a mere craving of 
the personal advantages which the possession of knowl- 
edge gives ; or it may be a pure and inspiring love of 
truth for her own sake. 

The hope of future good may be purely selfish, or 
it may be inspired by a noble self-interest, and a be- 
nevolent desire to help and bless others. 

A sense of honor may be false or true — the former 
being a servile bondage to the opinions or demands 
of school-mates, a clique, or a party; and the latter 



SCHOOL INCENTIVES. 323 

that fine sense of justice that is born of self-respect 
and a true regard for the good -will of others. 

It should be specially noted that each of these nat- 
ural incentives has for its highest correlate Religious 
a religious motive. These religious corre- correlates, 
lates, beginning with the second incentive, may be as 
follows — each religious correlate being placed above 
the incentive to which it relates : 

A desire for God' s approval. 

(2) A desire for approbation. 

A desire for the pozvcr of an endless life. 

(3) A desire for activity and power. 

A desire to know God and his zvill. 

(4) A desire for knowledge. 

The hope of a blessed immortality. 

(5) The hope of future good. 

The desire to honor one's Creator. 

(6) A sense of honor. 

A sense of obligation to do God' s will, 
{y) A sense of duty. 

It has been assumed in the foregoing discussion 
that the right training of the will involves the use of 
the highest motives that can be made use of Higher 
effective ; and hence of two motives equally Motives, 
effective, the higher should always be placed before 
the pupil. In accordance with this principle, the 
artificial incentives should be used, if used at all, as 
temporary expedients, to lift a pupil or school to the 
plane of the natural incentives. Such incentives may 
properly be used in controlling a school of savages, 
but as fast as the savage nature is overcome, higher 
incentives should be substituted. 



324 ELEMENTS OF FED A GOGY. 

The same principle is to be observed in the use of 
the natural incentives. They are not equally abiding 
in results, or equally valuable in quickening the pupil's 
sense of right and duty; and hence there should be 
an increasing use of the higher and more fruitful. 
The use of lower incentives when those that are 
higher can be made equally effective, is to sacrifice 
the best results of will training. 

It follows that the most efficient training of the will 

involves an appeal to the religious motives, and this 

Religious inference is strongly supported by the fact 

Motives. \}^2X. tJie rcUgwis iiiotivcs qiiickeJi and energize 
all the loivcr motives to zvJiich they are related. It is for 
this reason, among others, that they have been the 
mightiest of historic forces, and the mightiest forces 
in individual life. The religious motives are fibered in 
modern civilization, and constitute the one authorita- 
tive element of the moral law. There has never been 
a moral code that secured the free obedience of men, 
that did not derive its highest and most restraining 
authority from religion ; and this is true in pagan as 
well as in Christian lands.* 

Indeed, I know no thoughtful writer who denies 
that religious sanctions have a greater and more es- 
sential influence on the will than any other motives. 



®The much praised naoral code of Confucias Mot omlj contaims 
references to " Heaven '* as the Supreme Being, but it clearly rec- 
ognizes a future life. ["The Chinese Classics," Psurt I, pp. ix-xi] ; 
and, besides, it is a historic fact that the influence of the Confucian 
precepts on Chinese life has increased in the ratio in which the 
great teacher has been venerated as divine. It is an equally sug- 
gestive fact of history that the decay of faith in Greek mythology 
was attended by a decline in Greek morality, such as it was. 



SCHOOL INCENTIVES. 325 

"My belief is," says Mr. Huxley, "that no human 
being, and no society composed of human beings, 
ever did or ever will come to much unless their con- 
duct be governed and guided by the love of some 
ethical ideal,"* and he further expressly declares that 
the religious feeling is ' ' the essential basis of con- 
duct. " Even more emphatic testimony, to the same 
effect, from other eminent scientists and philosophers 
might be cited. 

This principle is forcibly illustrated in the training 
of the will through obedience to mitliority, — an essential 
element in its complete discipline. The obedience to 
child first meets authority in the will of Authority, 
the parent, and obedience to parental authority is the 
beginning of the process of subjecting feeling and 
impulse to a higher law. The parent's authority rep- 
resents both love and power, and the child's obedience 
has its abiding spring in revej-encc, which Coleridge 
calls "the synthesis of love and fear." This gives 
the parent's will ascendency over both the heart and 
will of the child, and imparts to it a touch of the 
Absolute. Some one has said that the first deities 
which a child worships and obeys are his parents. 

This discipline of the will in obedience is next 
taken up by the school whose authority is both per- 
sonal and institutional. Here the pupil is not only 
trained in obedience to authority in this new form, 
but is prepared for obedience to civil or governmental 
authority, which is institutional, and not personal. 
To this end, both the authority of the school and of 
the state should be enthroned in the pupil's rever- 



From address to London School Board. 



S26 ELEMEN TS OF FED A GOGY. 

ence; and this can only be secured by training the 
will under a deep sense of that Supreme Authority 
that is back of family, school, and state. We must 
not be too slow to learn that an essential condition of 
willing obedience to law is a reverence for its authority, 
and that this involves a reverence for its soiirce. 
Human law has surest and easiest ascendency over the 
heart and the will when it speaks, not simply by the 
authority of the people, but also in the name of the 
King of kings. 

It is believed that history will fully sustain the 
statement that every wide attempt to ground moral 
Testimony obligation solcly on human authority has 
of History, rcsultcd \\\ the weakening of the con- 
science, the enfeebling of the will, and the lowering 
of the moral life of the people. It may be true that 
a basis of right and wrong can be found in man's 
moral nature, but the pregnant fact of human 
experience is that their authority over the will is weak 
when unsupported by religious sanctions and influence. 
In the murky atmosphere of carnal and selfish appe- 
tites and desires, moral distinctions become obscure 
and confused. Virtue comes to be regarded as mere 
self-restraint ; temperance as moral cowardice ; and 
theft as the secret redistribution of wrong accumula- 
tions. This is sad history. 

The deep truth of both reason and human expe- 
rience is that the religious motives transcend all others 
in their influence on the will. It is the high sense of 
obligation which they alone furnish that can free the 
will from self-bondage to the lower impulses and de- 
sires and make its high jjurposes imperative and 
abiding^ in conduct. 



SCHOOL INCENTIVES. 327 

In the clear light of these truths, I can not avoid 
the conclusion that effective moral training in school 
demands the vitalizing influence of religious Religious 
truth and sanctions ; and I can not sup- ^^"^oraf '" 
press the fear that any system of moral Training, 
training that ignores the Supreme Source of right and 
duty, that shuts out from obligation all ideas of God 
and immortality, will not bear the test of character 
and life. 

Take as an illustration the effect on the will that 
would result w^ere all consciousness of God's omnis- 
cience excluded from school training as a motive. 
What a help and inspiration to a wayward pupil is 
the consciousness that the eye of a loving and just 
teacher rests upon him ! What courage and heroism 
in battle have been inspired by the eye of the great 
soldier in command ! What an incentive to right 
conduct, and what a restraint to wrong doing, is the 
eye of the wise and good ! Evil doing hides from 
sight. Men love darkness rather than light not only 
because but when their deeds are evil. These are 
but weak illustrations of the inspiring and restraining 
influence on human conduct that flows from a clear 
consciousness that there is in this universe an All 
Seeing Eye that is never closed ; that He who has said 
with infinite authority, "Thou shalt not," sees! 
There is no such vanquisher of temptation as the con- 
sciousness, "Thou, God, seest me!" The exclusion 
of all thought of that Omniscient Eye from school 
training would be like shutting out the light of the 
sun and substituting the glimmer of candles ! 



328 ELEMENTS OF FED A GOGY. 



Religion in the Public School. 

The consideration of one more question is necessary 
to complete this study of moral education; viz., To 
zvJtat extent can religious motives and infljience be used in 
the public school ? 

In answering this question, it must be kept in mind 
that the highest efficiency of the public school is 
tested by its results in moral character, and hence its 
central aim is effective moral training. The truth of 
these statements will be questioned by no one who 
has carefully considered the functions and value of 
public education. The assumption that intellectual 
training is the sole duty of the public school is made 
J1S an objection to the system, and never as a ground 
of its defence. It is always urged as proof that 
public education has no sufficient foundation on which 
to stand, and no imperative claim to public support. 

If it be conceded that effective moral training is 
the central duty of the public school, it must also be 
conceded that zvJiatevcr is an essential means to such 
training should have due place in its instruction and 
discipline. 

There are two extreme and opposite views on the 
relation of religion to moral training in the public 
Extreme school. The onc asscrts that public school 
Views. training must be completely divorced from 
religion, — it being assumed that the denial of the 
right of the public school to give sectarian religious 
instruction shuts out all religious truth and sanctions. 
The other extreme view claims that formal religious 



RELIGION IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOL. 329 

instruction must be made the basis of all moral train- 
ing, — it being assumed that the absence of the cate- 
chism and other technical instruction in religion from 
the school necessitates the absence of all vital re- 
ligious influence. 

The philosophy of will training, so fully presented 
in previous pages, clearly Indicates that there is a 
practical mean between these two extreme The Practical 
views. The truths there considered show Mean, 
that what is needed to give efficiency to moral train- 
ing In school is not formal religious instruction so 
much as the quickening of the conscience and the in- 
fluencing of the will by the wise use of religious 
motives and sanctions. When a witness appears in 
court to give testimony, he is not formally Instructed 
in religious doctrines, but his conscience is quickened 
and its authority reinforced by an oath that appeals to 
the Omniscient Searcher of hearts and the Supreme 
Source of truth and obligation. A similar but less 
formal use of the common sanctions of religion Is 
needed to quicken the moral sense and reinforce the 
lower motives in the moral training of the young; 
and whatever may be true of the necessity of the 
religious oath in the administration of justice, there 
can be no question respecting the importance of re- 
ligious sanctions and motives in school training. In 
view of the Imperative need of the most vital moral 
training possible In our schools, this necessary use of 
religious influence should receive universal approval. 

The writer is aware that theoretical objections 
can be urged against the practicability of the golden 
mean above suggested, but happily there is no such 
difficulty or confusion In the practice of thousands of 

VV. p.— 28. 



330 ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 

teachers. The great majority of American schools 
are rehgious without being sectarian, and it is high 
time that this fact was more universally recognized. 

It is doubtless true that the most impressive forms 

of presenting religious sanctions to the mind and 

Use of the heart of the young are prayer, silent or 

Bible. spoken, and the reverent reading of the 
Bible, especially those portions that present human 
duty in its relations to the Divine Will — forms still 
permitted and widely used in four fifths of American 
schools. I share Mr. Huxley's serious perplexity in 
seeing how the needed measure of religious influence 
in our schools can be secured without the presence of 
the Bible; and yet, to this end, its formal and stated 
reading may not be essential, since there are other 
ways in which its vitalizing truths may be brought 
home to the conscience and the life. 

At least three avenues are open for the introduction 
of religious ideas and sanctions into all our schools. 
These are sacred song, the literature of Christendom, 
and, best of all, faithful and fearless Christian teachers, 
the living epistles of the Truth. Against these there 
is no law. 



INDEX. 



N. B. The figures refer to pages. 



Abstraction, 63; abstract ideas, 
63, 299; abstract concepts, 64. 

Aftections, The, 28. 

Analogy, Reasoning from, 73. 

Analysis, 62 ; analysis and synthe- 
sis, 13S; Hamilton's views, 138, 
172; their union in teaching, 
170, 171, 172, 256, 265. 

Analysis — of psychical processes, 
10 ; of the feelings, 23; of intel- 
lectual processes, 35; of acts of 
will, 314. 

Analysis, Phonic, 226; syllabic 
analysis, 228 ; spelling, 229. 

Apperception, 47. 

Appetites, 25; acquired, 25, 31; 
under control of the will, 313. 

Arithmetic, Courses of Instruction 
in, 294-310; primary course — 
first series, 294, second series, 
299, third series, 302; element- 
ary book course, 304; advanced 
or complete course, 309. 

Arithmetic, Methods of Teaching, 
294; general method of teach- 
ing elementary arithmetic, 308 ; 
counting by ones, 296; abstract 
numbers, 297, 299; figures, 297; 
slate and board exercises, 297 ; 
abuse of objects, 298, 304; part 
and factor processes taught sep- 
arately, 300; addition and sub- 
traction inverse processes, 300 ; 
multiplication and division in- 
verse processes, 303 ; early use 
of text-book, 303 ; oral and writ- 
ten processes united, 305 ; value 
of oral analyses, 306; "mental 
arithmetic," 306; use of rules, 
307 ; how taught, 308 ; defini- 
tions and how taught, 308 ; 
teaching common measures, 
305 ; the metric measures, 309. 



Art, Education as an, 9; arts of 
memory, 54; teaching an art, 100, 
213; fundamental arts, 99; art 
of questioning, 180; the teach- 
ing of art, 124; ideals in teach- 
ing art, 125; knowledge, 125; 
principles, 126; practice, 128. 

Assignment of lessons, 214. 

Attention, 37; an act of will, 38; 
effect on sense activity, 42; in- 
terest, 43; nervous energy, 44; 
limits of attention, 44. 

Bible, Use of, 330. 

Blackboard, Use of in Teaching 
Reading, 221 ; in teaching map 
drawing, 274, 278, 288; in teach- 
ing number, 297, 300, 302. 

Body and Soul, Connection of, 22, 
31-33; bodily conditions of psy- 
chical action, 92. 

Books, Study of, 118, 149; value 
of, 151; book study and oral 
teaching, 152-163. 

Brain, 23; organ of the mind, 24; 
size of brain, 32. 

Branch of Study, 137- 

Business Papers, 251. 

Calling on Pupils, Methods of, 
182-192; consecutive, 183; pro- 
miscuous, 185 ; simultaneous or 
concert, 189; abuse of concert 
method, 191. 

Catechetic Method, merits and 
defects, 178. 

Change of Seasons, 286. 

Charts, Reading, 221, 222, 229. 

Children's Minds, Contents of, 
114, 220; study of children, lO, 
13, 87, 88. 

Coincidence not Causation, 74. 

Comenian Maxim, 121, 127. 

Comparison, 62, 67. 

(331) 



332 



ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 



Conception — sense-conception or 
sense-synthesis, 46 ; conception 
proper, 62; elements, 62; gen- 
eralization, 63. 

Concepts — -sense, 46; general, 62; 
compound, 64 ; concrete and ab- 
stract, 64; relation to words, 65 ; 
not transferable, 65 ; primary 
concepts taught objectively, 
113; concepts before words, 
223 ; general concepts not im- 
aged, 64, 65. 

Concert Method, The, 189; its 
abuse, 191. 

Consciousness, 36; validity of its 
knowledge, 36 ; the ego known, 
36; act immediate, 37; degrees 
of consciousness, 37; uncon- 
scious acts, 36. 

Consecutive Method, merits and 
defects, 183-185. 

Daily Preparation, Teacher's, 211. 

Deduction 75; relation of induc- 
tion and deduction, 78 ; deduct- 
ive methods of teaching, 139. 

Descriptive Text in Geography, 
291; special topics, 292; defini- 
tions, how taught, 277, 283 ; 
mathematical terms, 283, 286. 

Desires, 29; aversions, 29; appeal 
of desires to the will, 313-317; 
moral quality of desires, 316; 
desires as incentives, 321-323. 

Diacritical marks, 227, 233. 

Diagrams, 90, 112, 154. 

Discrimination, 41, 67. 

Drill, Use of the, 144; abuse, 145; 
abuse in graded schools, 146; 
drill exercises, 164; united with 
instruction in lesson, 164-168. 

Education, Definitions of, 133, 
135, 136; as an art, 9; guiding 
knowledge, 9; ends and means, 
97 ; kinds — intellectual, moral, 
and physical, 98; self, 136. 

Educator, 135. 

Elementary sounds, 227. 

Emotions, 26; psychical origin, 
26; intensity, 27; classes, 28; 
relation to other feelings, 29. 



English Grammar, Methods of 
Teaching, 255-267 ; practical 
value, 128, 129, 158; place in 
school course, 255 ; introductory 
lessons, 256; synthesis of simple 
sentence, 259 ; four forms of 
predication, 259; essential ele- 
ments of sentence, 262; modi- 
fiers of subject, 263; modifiers 
of verb, 264; analysis and pars- 
ing, 265 ; study of text-booki 
267; false syntax, 267. 

English Literature, 238, 240, 253, 

Enthymeme, The, 76. 

Errors in Oral Teaching, 163. 

Examinations, Written, 193-209. 

False Syntax, Correction of, 267. 

Feelings, Classes of, 23 ; corporeal 
— sensations, appetites, and in- 
stincts, 24-26; psychical — emo- 
tions, affections, and desires, 
26-30; feelings related, 29; vol- 
untary, 30; culture of the feel- 
ings, 31, 318; feelings affect the 
body, 31; their bodily manifes- 
tation, 32; outline analysis, 34. 

Forgetfulness, 53. 

Garfield on class interest, 211. 

Generalization, 62-64; conceptive, 
62; ideas generalized, 64. 

Geography, Methods of Teaching, 
268-293; oral instruction, 156, 
157 ; both synthetic and analytic 
methods used, 171; progress 
made, 268; nature of text-book, 
268; objects of its study, 269; 
three course of instruction — oral 
course in home geography, 270- 
283; intermediate book course, 
283-292 ; physical geography, 
293 ; lessons on globe, 281, 286 ; 
syllabus of oral course, 271-283. 

Grammar — see English grammar. 

Habits of Speech, 244, 267. 

Hallucinations, 60. 

Hand and Mind, 127. 

History, Methods of Teaching, 

159-162. 
Huxley on the religious basis of 

conduct, 325. 



INDEX. 



■333 



Idea, Definition of, 46; general 
ideas, 63 ; abstract ideas, 63 ; 
ideas simple, 64; can not be 
transferred, 65. 

Ideals in Teaching Art, 124. 

Images, 47, 55, 58. 

Imagination, 55; compared with 
memory, 55; phases— modifying, 
constructive, and creative, 56; 
materials used, 57 ; psychical 
conditions, 57. 

Incentives, 29; school incentives, 
320; kinds — natural and artifi- 
cial, 320-324; "Royal Seven," 
321 ; use of the higher, 323; re- 
ligious motives, 324; their use 
in moral training, 324. 

Inclination, 29. 

Induction, 70 — see Reasoning, in- 
ductive. 

Inductive Methods, 139. 

Inference, Probable, 74- 

Instinct, 26. 

Instruction, Definition of, 134 ; 
course of, 107; Dr. Hill's simile, 
no; diagram, 1 12; primary in- 
struction, 105, 108, 154; instruc- 
tion exercises, 164; united with 
drill in lesson, 164. 

Instructor, 135. 

Intellect, 21, 35 ; also called mind, 
22; analysis of processes, 35-83; 
outline analysis, %^. 

Interest, 43; how awakened, 21 1. 

Intuition, Definition of, 44; not in- 
duction, 45 ; logical or rational 
intuitions, 45; note, 45. 

Judgment, 67 ; simple and formal, 
67; mediatejudgrnent, 69; judg- 
ing not reasoning, 71 ; judg- 
ments, particular and general, 
68; facts, 69. 

Knowledge, 35; objects of knowl- 
edge real, 35; original and ac- 
quired, 98, 118; elements ac- 
quired objectively, 114; not 
transferable, but result of 
learner's activity, in; commu- 
nication of knowledge, 117; 
self-knowledge, 10; elementary 



and scientific, 1 10, 120; com- 
mon and scientific, 80, 109. 

Language, Function of, 129; an 
end of teaching, 166; memoriz- 
ing language, 167; importance 
of skill in its use, 243; synthesis 
before analysis in teaching lan- 
guage, 244, 256 ; talking before 
writing, 244; habits of speech 
caught, 244; methods of teach- 
ing language, 243-267. 

Language Lessons, 129, 243; 
course of, 245-255 ; primary 
series, 244; secondary series, 
249; original series, 252; not 
too systematic, 254. 

Learning, 135; pupil's act, iii. 

Lesson, Nature of the, 16, 164, 
165; methods of giving lessons, 
168-172; objective instruction, 
168; indirect, 169; direct, 169; 
analysis and synthesis, 170; 
union of processes, 172; recita- 
tion methods in lessons, 190; 
abuse of concert method, 191. 

Letter writing, 252; De Quincey's 
remark on style in letters, 252. 

Map Drawing, 274-276, 288-290. 

Map Study, 269, 287, 288-291. 

Marking System, The, 206. 

Mathematical Definitions, 286. 

Maxims, Elementary, 105; their 
limitations, 15, 105; other max- 
ims, 115, 143, 244, 307. 

Memory, 51 ; psychical elements, 
51; perfect and imperfect, 52; 
the ego in memory, 53 ; forget- 
fulness, 53 ; what memory re- 
calls, 53; arts of, and law, 54; 
cultivation, 54; kinds, 55. 

Mental Arithmetic, 306; union of 
mental and written, 305. 

Mental Powers, Activity of, 84; 
order of activity, 84, 85; order 
of growth, 86; how early active, 
87; child study, 13, 88; bodily 
conditions, 92; diagram, 90. 

Method, Definition of, 137; gen- 
eral methods, 15, 138; analytic 
and synthetic, 138; inductive 



334 



ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 



and deductive, 139; special, 17, 
219-310 ; method of moral 
training, 318-330. 

Metric Measures, The, 309. 

Mind and body, 93 ; mind and 
hand, 127. 

Mind, 22; mind self-active, in. 

Model Lessons, Use of, 168. 

Moral Character, 317; cultivated 
by moral activity, 317. 

Moral Training, 17; relation of 
will to moral action, 323; train- 
ing of the will, 318; moral in- 
struction, 318; culture of the 
feelings, 318; discipline under 
motives, 319; school incentives, 
320; religious correlates, 323; 
influence of religious motives 
on the will, 324; in moral train- 
ing, 327; religion in public 
school, 328. 

Motives, 29, 316; training under 
motives, 319; artificial motives, 
320; natural motives, 321 ; re- 
ligious motives, 323. 

Natural Order of psychical activ- 
ity, 104; natural and harmoni- 
ous training, 106. 

Nervous System, The, 23 ; phys- 
ical organism of the soul, 24; 
nervous energy in attention, 44. 

Numbers, Methods of Teaching, 
145. 155 157, 294-310. 

Objective Teaching, 113, 141 ; of 
science, 116, 162; objects in 
teaching reading, 223; in teach- 
ing language, 247; in teaching 
geography, 270; in teaching 
arithmetic, 294. 

Oral Teaching, 135, 140; object- 
ive, indirect, and direct, 141 ; 
union of these methods, 143 ; 
union of oral teaching and book 
study, 152-164; diagram, 154; 
union in primary classes, 154; 
in intermediate classes, 156; in 
high-school classes, 161 ; errors 
in their union, 163. 

Outlines, 22, 34, 83, 230, 236. 

Pen and Pencil, Use of, 193. 



Per cent System, The, 199. 

Percept, Definition of, 46; 63. 

Perception — see Sense-perception. 

Phantasy, 51, 58; conditions, 58; 
how occasioned, 59 ; creative, 
59; hallucinations, 60. 

Philosophy, 10, 82, no; Fichte's 
definition, 82. 

Phonic Method of teaching read- 
ing, 227; phonic drills, 226; 
elementary sounds, 227; diffi- 
culties in phonic analysis, 228; 
letter spelling, 229; phonic 
type, 227. 

Physical Geography, 293, 

Physiology, 12; physiological con- 
ditions of psychical action, 13; 
researches of physiologists, 13, 
33; instruction in, 158; laws of 
health, 158; use of book, 159. 

Picture lessons in language, 249. 

Power, Definition of, 99; kinds, 
99; developed by action, 119; 
power leading end of teaching, 
122; act more important than 
acquisition, 123; sayings of 
Lessing and Maleliranch, 124; 
power tested, 174; power and 
tendency resultants, 31, 50, 119; 
principle applied, 119, 316. 

Practice in Learning Art, 124, 144. 

Preparation, Teacher's Daily, 21 1 ; 
knowledge of subjects taught, 
211 ; of principles and methods, 
213 ; skill in their use, 214; value 
of daily preparation, 215. 

Presentative Power, The, 36; con- 
sciousness, 36 ; sense-percep- 
tion, 38; intuition, 44; present- 
ative products, 46, 

Primary Knowledge — acquired ol)- 
jectively, 113; primary concepts 
and ideas, 113; relation to 
words, 115. 

Primary Tone, 191. 

Principles of Teaching, 14; seven 
principles stated and explained, 
100-130; importance of knowl- 
edge of principles, 100, 213. 

Promiscuous Method, The, 185. 

Proposition, Tlie, 68. 



INDEX. 



335 



Psychical Powers, 2i ; interde- 
pendent, 22; law of activity of 
psychical powers, 50. 

Psychical Processes, Analysis of, 
21-93; how known, 9; basis of 
pedagogy, 9, 88. 

Question Method, The, 178; nat- 
ure of questions, 178; the art of 
questioning, 180. 

Reading, Methods of Teaching, 
154, 156, 219-242; primary les- 
sons, 221-230; Second-Reader 
drills, 230-237 ; drills in ad- 
vanced classes, 237-242. 

Reading, Primary, 219; based on 
pupils' knowledge, 220; first 
steps, 221; board lessons, 221; 
script or print, 222 ; words as 
wholes, 223 ; use of objects, 223 ; 
limit of word method, 225; 
phonic method, 226 ; letter meth- 
od, 229; script to print, 229; 
union method, 230; outline, 230. 

Reading in Second Reader, 230; 
reading defined, 231; ends of 
drills, 232 ; means, 232-234 ; 
thought reading, 234; mental 
pictures, 235 ; outline analysis 
of drill, 236 ; supplemental, 237. 

Reading in Advanced Classes, 237 ; 
instruction on authors, 238; 
vocal training, 238; expression 
of feeling, 238; pronunciation, 
239 ; illustrative drill, 239-242. 

Reason, The, 69 ; reasoning de- 
fined, 70; induction, 70; deduc- 
tion, 75; discerning power of 
reason, 48, 79 ; how early chil- 
dren reason, 91, 103. 

Reasoning, Inductive, 70; distinc- 
tion between it and judging, 
70; ground of induction, 71; 
the reason, 72; validity of in- 
duction, 73 ; analogy, 73 ; com- 
mon induction, 74. 

Reasoning, Deductive, 75; syllo- 
gism, 75; middle term, 76; rules 
for testing, 76; the reason, 77; 
relation to induction, 78; prac- 
tical value, 79. 



Recitation, The, 16, 164; origin 
of term, 165; neglect of it, 165; 
complimentary to the lesson, 
165; importance, 173; objects 
or aims, 173; testing knowl- 
edge, power, and skill, 173-175; 
union with the lesson, 176; 
methods of conducting, 177- 
190; recitation record, 205. 

Religion in Public Schools, 17, 
328; religious motives, 17, 323; 
relation to lower motives, 324; 
relation to obedience, 325 ; use 
in moral training, 327. 

Representative Power, The, 48 ; 
objects reproduced, 48; reten- 
tion, 49; principle, 50; simple 
representation, 51 ; memory, 51 ; 
imagination, 55; phantasy, 58. 

Rules in Arithmetic, 307. 

Sand-molding, 277, 290, note. 

School Arts, Teaching of, 128, 144. 

School Incentives— see Incentives. 

Science, 81 ; teaching of, 116, 162. 

Script and print, 221. 

Self-education, 136. 

Self-teaching, 121. 

Sensations, Classes of, 24; locus, 
24, 40 ; specia-1, 23, 40. 

Sensibility, The, 23 — see Feelings. 

Sensorium, The, 24, t^^; sensorial 
phenomena, 39. 

Sense-perception, 38; psychical 
conditions, 39; psychical ele- 
ments, 39; explanations, 40; 
original perception, 41 ; ac- 
quired, 41 ; efiects of attention, 
42; sense-concept, 46. 

Sentence, The, 69; its synthesis 
and analysis, 259-266. 

Sentence Method, The, 225. 

Singing Tones, 191; singing in 
schools, 192. 

Skill, Definition of, 99; acquired 
by practice, 128, 144, 166, 214; 
testing of skill, 175. 

Soul, The Human, 21; a unit, 21; 
connection with body, 31; har- 
mony of soul and body, T)"^. 

Special Senses, Tiie, 23, 38. 



336 



ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY. 



Speech, Habits of, 244, 267. 

Spelling, 223, 229; oral, 233. 

Study, A, 137; branch of study, 
137; course of study, 107, 137; 
diagram, 112. 

Study, Definition of, 136; study of 
books, 118, 149; value of book 
study, 150; union of book study 
and oral teaching, 152- 163. 

Suliot's Analysis of Narratives, 250. 

Supplemental Reading, 237. 

Survey, General, 14. 

Syllabic Analysis, 228; pronuncia- 
tion of syllables, 228. 

Syllabus of Oral Lessons in Home 
Geography, 271-283. 

Syllogism, The, 75. 

Synthesis and Analysis, 138, 170, 
171, 256, 299. 

System, Too much, 208, 254. 

Teacher, The, 210; meaning of, 
135; an artist, loo, 168; blind 
experience, 127; teacher's prep- 
aration, 210-215. 

Teaching, Definition of, 133, 134; 
an art, lOO, 168, 172; ends, 97, 
98; principles, 97-130 ; teach- 
ing processes, 140; teaching 
exercises, 164; their union, 176; 
errors in teaching, 163; opera- 
tive teaching, 16, 200, 210; 
special branches, 219-309. 

Terms used, li, 98, 133; psychical 
terms, 11 ; educational, 98, 133. 

Testing, 147; relation to study, 
147; abuse of the test, 148; test 
exercises, 164; methods of test- 
i"g» ^77; catechetic, 178-181 ; 
topic, 181; their union, 182; 
written tests, 195-198. 

Text-books, Kinds of, 149; use of, 
159, 160, 267, 283, 303; teach- 
er's use, 212. 

Thought Power, The, 61 ; concep- 
tion, 62; judgment, 67; reason, 
69; relation of, 78; scientific 
and common thought, 80; activ- 
ity of thought powers, 86. 

Tongue and Pen, 244. 

Topic Method, The, 181. 



Training, Definition of, 134; law 
of, 119; moral training, 313. 

Uniformity and System, 208. 

Union of oral teaching and book 
study, 152 163; of teaching 
processes, 172; of oral and writ- 
ten numerical processes, 305. 

Voice Culture, 238 ; vocal expres- 
sion, 167. 

Will, The, 18, 30, 313; relation to 
feelings, 313 ; to moral action, 
314; acts of will — choices, pur- 
poses, and volitions, 314; gov- 
erning purpose, 315; controller 
of appetite, 313 ; freedom of the 
will, 315; the will in conduct, 
317; moral character, 317; self- 
active, 38, 316. 

Will, Training of the, 318; in- 
struction, 318; culture of the 
feelings, 318; discipline under 
motives, 319; training for lib- 
erty, 319 ; use of incentives, 
320; the religious motives, 323; 
influences on the will, 324 ; testi- 
mony of history, 326. 

Word Method, The, 223; use of 
objects, 223; first steps, 224; 
words in combination, 224 ; 
limits of word method, 225; the 
sentence method, 226. 

Words as Signs, 65 ; how learned 
by children, 116, 223; as sounds 
and forms, 220; meaning of 
words, 115, 233. 

Written Examinations, 193-209; 
use and value, 195- 199; use of 
results, 198; resulting evils, 
199-202; remedies, 202207; ba- 
sis of promotion, 205 ; recita- 
tion record, 205; marking sys- 
tem, 206; radical remedy, 207. 

Written Exercises, 193 195. 

Written Reviews, 196. 

Written Tests, 195 198. 



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